Flexible Battery Conflict
LG Chem and Samsung SDI have both unveiled different types of flexible batteries for smart watches.
LG Chem showcased a battery that it installed in a watch band during InterBattery 2015 on Oct. 20. The core of the watch band battery is a long, thin wire-shaped battery that the company developed for the first time in 2013.
The limit that other flexible batteries can bend is a circle with a 30 mm radius, but this wire battery can bend in a 15 mm radius. This means that it can be bend back on itself, fitting perfectly inside a watch band.
Also last June, LG Chem became the first developer of a hexagonal battery designed to be installed into smartphones. An associate at LG Chem remarked that using both the hexagonal battery and the watch band battery in one device could double its usage time.
Samsung SDI also debuted its own flexible batteries like the Band battery and the Stripe battery at the event. The Band battery is also a watch band-targeted battery, and the company emphasized that using it could increase the battery storage capacity of smart watches by 1.5-fold.
Samsung SDI has also extensively tested its Band battery by bending it 50,000 times to the curvature of the human wrist during testing. The Band battery was able to maintain its functionality during that time. Samsung SDI also demonstrated a wearable prototype smart watch that used both types of battery.
Smart watches are projected to account for more than 40 percent of the wearable device market in 2016, and total smart watch shipments are expected to reach over 100 million units in 2020, according to market research firm Gartner.