A breakthrough in TDK semiconductor ceramic technology

Battery life continues to be our biggest concern across smartphones, laptops, wearables and electric vehicles, even though we regularly see exciting battery innovations from around the world. Some of these may feature more science fiction battery technology that won’t be viable in the near future, but other breakthroughs could significantly extend the battery life of some of our current devices.

On Monday, TDK announced its latest solid-state battery innovation, CeraCharge. The company has developed a ceramic material with an energy density 100 times higher than conventional solid-state batteries. The new ceramic batteries are intended for portable devices such as smartwatches, wireless headphones and hearing aids.

Since TDK is an Apple supplier, this could be great news for future Apple Watches and AirPods, especially given European regulatory rules for mobile device batteries.

The EU wants smartphones and other battery-powered gadgets to have batteries that can be easily replaced during the repair process. This will impact a wide range of products in the coming years as sellers will have to redesign their batteries to meet EU requirements.

TDK does not name the products that may contain the new ceramic solid-state batteries, but the Japanese supplier mentions EU regulations. TDK says the new CeraCharge batteries can replace “main coin cell batteries in compliance with EU battery regulations.”

Image credit: Chris Smith, BGR

It’s too early to say whether the batteries will be used in any of the upcoming Apple Watch or AirPods models. But as CNBC As he emphasizes, TDK is an Apple supplier.

New solid-state battery technology likely won’t go unnoticed in Cupertino. After all, iPhone fans may remember rumors from last year that the iPhone 16 might feature solid-state batteries. These reports didn’t mention TDK for this particular type of ceramic battery, but they did indicate that a change was afoot at Apple.

Returning to TDK ceramic batteries, the company explained that the next-generation solid-state battery technology has an energy density of 1,000 Wh/L, which is 100 times greater than the density of currently used solid-state batteries.

The new batteries use an oxide-based electrolyte and a lithium alloy anode, which TDK says makes them “extremely safe.” The Japanese company also notes that the new ceramic batteries are intended for use in devices that come into direct contact with human skin.

The new TDK ceramic battery will enter mass production, at least according to its announcement:

TDK will pursue battery cell and packaging design development and move to mass production, focusing on the development of its new product, the solid-state battery. Moreover, TDK aims to increase battery capacity through multi-layer lamination technology and expand the operating temperature range by applying the manufacturing engineering technology that TDK has accumulated in the electronic components industry.

That said, it’s unclear what new devices will get the new solid-state batteries, or whether Apple will be using them any time soon.

Still, I wondered what battery life improvements the TDK battery might offer, so I asked ChatGPT about it, mainly to see if the chatbot could offer a solution.

According to GPT-4o, Apple Watch equipped with TDK ceramic batteries can almost double its battery life, from 18 to 30.4 hours. However, this is only a theoretical exercise, the results of which I have not verified.