Do you want to break through the battery life of the mobile phone? Glory Xiaomi bets, OnePlus' new battery exposed!

Ray Technology

2024-06-24 11:46Posted in Guangdong science and technology creators

The time is approaching July, will the next generation of flagship phones be far away? After Qualcomm officially announced that it will host the 2024 Snapdragon Summit on October 21, various expectations and revelations for the next generation of flagship phones have also quickly become loud.

At present, in addition to the next-generation flagship chip Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, the popularity of ultrasonic fingerprints on the screen and the continued upgrading of images, the battery is also one of the focuses of major manufacturers on flagship models this year.

The latest revelations from well-known blogger @DigiChatStation pointed out that the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 is not cheap, and most models will be equipped with ultrasonic fingerprints, new periscopes and high-spec waterproof and dustproof devices, and will also use "new silicon batteries".

What is a "new silicon cell"? In fact, it is a new generation of silicon carbon anode battery. In fact, some models are already using silicon carbon anode batteries, and even the latest generation of silicon carbon anode batteries, with batteries up to 6000mAh or even larger crammed into a relatively thin and light body.

Figure / OnePlus

But it is said that it is some models, in fact, many flagship models have not used silicon carbon anode batteries, let alone the latest generation of silicon carbon anode batteries.

Therefore, from the perspective of consumers, it must be good to see that this year's flagship machine will popularize a new generation of silicon carbon anode batteries. And judging from the current trend, mobile phone manufacturers are also ready to popularize a new generation of silicon carbon anode batteries.

OnePlus Glacier battery, increase the capacity to 6100mAh 

In recent times, the pace of new device releases has basically slowed down, and the one that has attracted the most attention is probably the OnePlus Ace 3 Pro. Just a few days ago, OnePlus also specially cooperated with Ningde New Energy Technology (ATL) to hold a press conference for OnePlus's "Glacier Battery" in advance, and officially announced that it will be equipped with OnePlus Ace 3 Pro for the first time.

Putting aside the various concepts emphasized by OnePlus in the announcement, I can see at least two highlights of the "glacier battery": battery capacity and energy density. According to official information, at least on the OnePlus Ace 3 Pro, the glacier battery has a capacity of 6100mAh and an energy density of 763Wh/L.

Officially, OnePlus Glacier battery adopts a new generation of silicon carbon anode battery technology, which greatly increases the lithium-ion content in the battery compared with the traditional graphite anode battery, and achieves 6% anode silicon carbon content to achieve a large battery capacity of 6100mAh - it is also the largest battery capacity in OnePlus's history, and the volume is smaller than the 5000mAh graphite battery.

Figure / OnePlus

In response to the technical challenges of the service life of the silicon carbon anode battery, OnePlus said that it also adopted a self-developed bionic honeycomb structure design, and introduced a series of technical processes, including technologies such as battery health algorithms at the software level, which can still have a battery health of no less than 80% after four years of use.

Of course, the OnePlus Ace 3 Pro is just the beginning, and OnePlus's successors, including the flagship OnePlus 13, will also use "glacier batteries". What's more, according to OPPO's dual-brand strategy, the battery technology that is given priority to OnePlus will also be applied in OPPO models in the future.

Figure / OnePlus

To put it simply, considering the cooperation between OnePlus and the OPPO brand in the last two years, OPPO should also launch its own "XX battery" within the year.

To be honest, now all mobile phone brands are branding and buffing on their own batteries, Honor has Qinghai Lake battery, Xiaomi has Jinshajiang battery, vivo has Blue Ocean battery, OnePlus has also launched a "glacier battery", and it will not be surprising that OPPO has another "XX battery".

Xiaolei boldly speculated that OPPO would not continue to use OnePlus's "glacier battery" in the future, just like the distinction made in the screen brand. At the same time, in terms of tone, referring to Xiaomi Sands "River", Glory Qinghai "Lake", vivo Blue "Sea", OnePlus "Glacier" - all "water", maybe OPPO's final choice will be "X River Battery"?

I really can't think of a more specific Xiaolei, I don't know what you think will be called in the end?

Mobile phone battery wars: whose battery is more "water"?

However, the upgrade of mobile phone batteries does not only belong to the OPPO series, and the batteries of various mobile phone manufacturers are also ushering in a large-scale upgrade, from Xiaomi, Honor to vivo and other manufacturers.

For consumers, mobile phone battery life has always been a key variable affecting the daily experience, so the most important thing is definitely not which battery is more "water", but which battery can provide higher battery capacity in less weight and volume, one of the core indicators is:

Battery energy density.

Theoretically, all other things being equal, a battery with a higher energy density can achieve a larger battery capacity at the same volume, or make the battery thinner and lighter at the same battery capacity.

In fact, each company has not only branded its own batteries, but also increased the "battery energy density", such as the upcoming OnePlus Ace 3 Pro, which is equipped with a glacier battery that increases the battery energy density to 763Wh/L.

Figure / OnePlus

This is not the highest of the current mobile phone battery:

- The GSR battery on the Xiaomi Mi 14 Ultra does 779Wh/L;

- The newly released vivo S19 series uses a 6000mAh ultra-thin blue ocean battery with an energy density of 809Wh/L.

- Chen Jin, general manager of Lenovo's mobile phone business unit in China, revealed that the new Moto Razr series will be equipped with a self-developed high-voltage silicon carbon anode "Xinghai battery", with an energy density of up to 822Wh/L

As for Honor, the energy density of the first-generation Qinghai Lake battery was announced to reach 740Wh/L when it was released, and the second-generation Qinghai Lake battery was first released on the Magic6 series, but the public information only mentioned the further increase in energy density, and did not talk about the specific increase.

But is the new generation of silicon carbon anode "Xinghai battery" that will be used in the new generation of Moto Razr series the most "watery" battery this year? Not necessarily.

Photo/Weibo

Chen Jin pointed out on Weibo that Xinghai Battery "is currently the most advanced technical solution for folding screen mobile phones in the industry this year, and may be ahead of other folding screens that will be launched in the next few months."

In other words, it may be difficult to see a silicon carbon anode battery with an energy density of more than 822Wh/L in folding screen phones this year, but this does not include regular straight phones.

But no matter what, just looking at the mobile phone battery with increasing battery capacity in the past two years, I believe everyone can understand: silicon carbon anode battery technology has and continues to change the battery life experience of smartphones. But on the other hand, what is the magic of silicon carbon anode?

The magic of silicon carbon anode batteries

The breakthrough of battery technology can be said to be a common topic in the science and technology circle, especially the most commonly used lithium battery technology, which has not been a revolutionary technological breakthrough since its inception in the 80s of the last century.

Including the rise of electric vehicles in recent years, the increase in battery energy density has mainly relied on structural improvements, such as Tesla's cylindrical battery, BYD's blade battery, etc. However, the improvement of energy density brought about by structural improvement is limited, and the improvement of battery materials is recognized as the only way for the entire industry.

Here we need to understand a little about the charging and discharging principle of lithium batteries:

Photo/U.S. Department of Energy

During charging, the lithium ions of the positive electrode are de-intercalated through the internal electrolyte and embedded into the negative electrode (usually graphite) through the separator; Conversely, during the discharge process, the lithium ions of the negative electrode are de-intercalated through the electrolyte and embedded into the positive electrode through the diaphragm.

It can be seen that in the whole charging and discharging process, the core materials of lithium batteries are actually the positive electrode, negative electrode and electrolyte.

Among them, the transition from liquid electrolyte to solid-state electrolyte is actually the semi-solid-state and solid-state batteries that the industry is currently promoting. The specific capacity of the positive and negative electrode materials, that is, the amount of electricity that can be emitted per unit mass of the battery or active material, affects the energy density of the battery to a large extent.

In the field of anode materials, graphite is still the most mainstream material, but the theoretical specific capacity is only 340~370mAh/g, which is mainly advantageous in wide sources, low price, high safety and mature technology.

In contrast, the specific capacity of silicon-based anode materials can be as high as 4200mAh/g. Although the practical application is far from being able to play to such a high level, the silicon carbon anode material has been able to bring a significant increase in energy density to the battery.

How exactly is this improvement achieved?

Figure / Glory

Zhang Chaoyang, the founder of Sohu and a doctor of physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, actually talked about it in the cooperation video with Honor before, the battery must rely on positively charged lithium ions to conduct, and the lithium ions should be stored on both sides to form a certain voltage, and the 6 carbon atoms of graphite can accommodate 1 lithium ion:

"Silicon and carbon are in the same column, the outer structure is the same, but there is an extra layer than carbon, 1 silicon atom can hold 3.75 close to 4 lithium ions, so after adding silicon, the energy storage density can be increased to an order of magnitude."

To put it simply, the silicon atoms in the silicon carbon anode are able to absorb more lithium ions and store more energy, which brings a higher specific capacity, coupled with the improvement of the cathode material and electrolyte, to achieve a higher battery energy density.

Therefore, you may also notice that "silicon carbon content" is also a parameter that is often emphasized in the promotion of battery technology.

Such a potential material is naturally favored by many manufacturers. Tesla's 4680 battery released in 2020 uses a high-nickel cathode + silicon carbon anode material, coupled with all-tab and dry battery technology, and the official claim that the energy density of the new battery can reach 300Wh/kg (different from Wh/L).

Mobile phone manufacturers have also tried it very early. In 2019, Xiaomi adopted a silicon carbon anode battery on the concept machine MIX Alpha, with a battery capacity of 4050mAh.

MIX Alpha, photo/Xiaomi

With the maturity of silicon carbon anode battery technology, since last year, various companies have been trying to apply this battery in some models, such as the first-generation Qinghai Lake battery on the Honor Magic5 series, the blue ocean battery on the vivo X100 series, and the GSR battery on the Xiaomi 14 Ultra.

As for the second-generation silicon carbon anode battery, after being first applied and verified in mid-range models such as vivo S19 and OnePlus Ace 3 Pro, Xiaolei believes that it will soon be fully rolled out on flagship models.

What do consumers think of the battery war?

It should be emphasized that as an ordinary consumer, we don't need to care too much about the various concepts and parameters promoted by major manufacturers, and those should not be the measurement factors of how to choose a mobile phone.

In the final analysis, whether it is "silicon carbon content" or "battery energy density", the fundamental reason why consumers want mobile phone battery technology to be more advanced is that they hope to have a stronger battery life experience under the thin and light body. No matter how strong the technology is, it must be implemented in the actual experience to be valuable, so the core still depends on:

battery life, charging, feel, and internal hardware configuration.

However, from the perspective of longitudinal comparison, it can be basically concluded that the use of a new generation of silicon carbon anode battery will have a certain degree of improvement compared with the previous comprehensive strength in fuselage thickness control, internal hardware stacking and battery life. For friends who plan to change to a new machine in the near future, you can indeed wait.

From May 20th to June 30th, 2024, the 618 mid-year promotion is coming, and the six major e-commerce platforms of Taobao Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu will collectively "listen to persuasion", cancel pre-sales, and bargain wildly!     

Popular AI hard technology categories such as mobile phone digital, AI PC, smart home appliances, TVs, small household appliances, and air ice washing are gearing up and the battle is fierce.     

Lei Technology 618 report team will pay attention to the latest situation of the e-commerce platform, the latest developments of AI hard technology brands, and the new trend of the e-commerce industry.     

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