Apple to Create ‘All-New’ Battery for Its Devices in 2025, Report Says

Apple is slowly making more and more of its device components in-house; a new report claims that batteries could soon join the ranks of parts that Apple is developing in-house. And those batteries could end up in Apple products as early as next year.

Korean website ETNews (via MacRumors) reports via industry sources that Apple has been working on its own batteries since at least 2018, when the iPhone maker began hiring people with battery experience and filing patent applications for such solutions.

Apple intends to build an “all-new” battery with significantly improved performance, ETNews reports, adding that Apple is in the process of combining cathode materials to determine performance.

Apparently, Apple’s battery has a completely different composition compared to other batteries currently on the market. It combines raw materials such as nickel, cobalt, manganese, and aluminum to improve performance.

The company is also reportedly exploring silicon as a cathode material, a different material to the graphite that has traditionally been used. However, ETNews notes that silicon has a problem with volume expansion during charging and discharging, and Apple is working on a workaround.

Reports further claim that Apple is exploring carbon nanotubes to improve conductivity, as it would provide better performance using less common materials. This change could also lead to faster charging times.

The resulting battery is said to be an innovation that hasn’t been commercialized yet. A source told ETNews that Apple’s Vision Pro headset significantly increased Apple’s demand for high-performance batteries. The $3,500 product is rated for just 2 to 2.5 hours of battery life. Meanwhile, devices like the Apple Watch have had the same “all-day” rating since its launch, while competing smartwatches now last multiple days on a single charge.

The ETNews report does not provide details on what stage Apple is currently working on these batteries or what performance improvements have been discovered during the research.

Most batteries are lithium-ion and consist of an anode, a cathode, and an electrolyte layer. The anode is usually made of lithium metals, and the cathode is made of graphite. According to Reliance Digital, most smartphones have a “Li-ion” battery because it can hold more power cells while taking up less space inside the device.

Overall, the industry has seen significant improvements in battery performance in recent years, both through engineering improvements such as power efficiency in chipsets and through software that controls the battery and operating systems.

And Apple isn’t the only company working on improved batteries. Over the summer, OnePlus announced a “Glacier Battery,” which supposedly packs a 6,100mAh battery cell into a 5,000mAh slot. This battery is built with silicon-carbon anode technology and is supposedly capable of delivering two days of use on a single charge.

Other companies, like Realme, are touting the capabilities of their chargers. The company recently announced a 320W charger that claims to be able to charge a smartphone’s battery in under 5 minutes. That charger, however, isn’t available in any actual smartphones yet.

Apple’s battery project was reportedly developed in conjunction with Apple Car, which was canceled. Then, the focus shifted to mobile applications. If the reports are to be believed, we should start seeing Apple’s battery in their products in 2025.

If this new battery does arrive next year, it will likely appear in the iPhone 17 lineup.