Adopting Smaller Batteries

Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Apple reduced the battery capacity by using a mobile AP to improve power efficiency and combining various charging methods, in addition to consideration of design and safety. (photo: BusinessKorea DB)
Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Apple reduced the battery capacity by using a mobile AP to improve power efficiency and combining various charging methods, in addition to consideration of design and safety. (photo: BusinessKorea DB)

 

Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Apple have slightly reduced their strategic smartphones’ physical batteries to be released in South Korea in the second half of this year. The companies reduced the capacity by using a mobile AP to improve power efficiency in addition to design and safety, and combining various charging methods. Such trend is expected to continue in the future.

Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 8 strategic smartphone in the second half of the year have a lower battery capacity compared to the previous model. The Galaxy Note 8 features a 3300mAh battery capacity, which is a little smaller than the Galaxy Note 7's 3500mAh battery. It is similar with the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus with a 3000mAh and 3500mAh battery capacity. The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge, which are the previous models, had a 3000mAh and 3600mAh battery, though they had a smaller screen.

The same is true of LG Electronics. The V30 with a 6-inch display has a 3300mAh battery which is same with the G6 with a 5.7-inch display. The V20 with a 5.7-inch display has a removable 3,200 mAh battery.

Apple has reduced the battery capacity by 7 percent. The iPhone 8 has an 1812mAh battery, which is smaller than the iPhone 7 with a 1960mAh battery. The iPhone 8 Plus features a 2691mAh battery, slightly lower than 2900mAh of the previous model.

Design is one of the external factors. Under the current trend, smartphone makers use displays with a wide screen ratio and unique materials to stress sophistication and portability.

For internal factors, smartphone manufacturers offset a lack of physical battery capacity by improving power efficiency based on a mobile AP, securing internal space for safety and supporting numerous charging solutions. This is why the companies say the battery lasts similar or even longer, though their new products have a lower battery capacity.

LG Electronics’ V30 and Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 8 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor which reduces power consumption by 25 percent compared to previous models. Samsung Electronics also used an Exynos 8895 processor in the Galaxy S8 that improves the power efficiency by 40 percent. The company re-designed the core based on ARM license to customize the processor for the Galaxy series.

Apple has raised power efficiency through its A11 Bionic chip. The A11 has allowed its embedded M11 motion processor to recognize location and motion and its neural engine to be in charge of machine learning and security in order to save energy. The new GPU, which has a 50 percent higher power efficiency, also helps the iPhone save power further with Apple’s Metal 2 API. Apple has improved performance and power efficiency with its own design.

In addition, smartphone producers offset a lack of battery capacity by supporting various charging solutions. In particular, the advance of high speed charging has led to convenience.

For the current high speed wired charger, there are USB Power Delivery (PD), which is the power transfer standard for USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), and Qualcomm Quick Charge. The USB-PD is the standard maximizing power efficiency. It can transmit up to 100W of power. Moreover, each manufacturer supports its own high speed charging solutions. For instance, Samsung Electronics has introduced the Adaptive Fast Charging (AFC) technology.

Samsung Electronics is using its own high speed charging solution. The Adaptive Fast charging enabled adapters have two ratings, one is for the fast charging and the other is for normal charging. The 9V/1.67A is fast charging. When a device doesn’t support this solution, it can be charged at the 5V/2A rating with an adaptor. For premium smartphone, Samsung Electronics uses both Exynos and Qualcomm Snapdragon, to make compatible with Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0. For wireless charging, the company introduces WPC Qi and PMA standards.

LG Electronics’ V30 supports not only USB-PD and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 but also Qi wireless charging technology. With the pad, it can charge wirelessly at up to 15W. The V30 is the model that has the most compatibility in the domestic market.

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