xiaomi: Explained: What is Xiaomi’s new High-Silicon Lithium battery technology? – Times of India

There have been substantial improvements in fast charging technology over the last few years but, the batteries in the smartphone have seen too many advancements. Xiaomi claims to have come up with a better solution as it announced its future High-Silicon Lithium battery technology, assuring more capacity at the same volume. Xiaomi claims it as a “breakthrough” in its battery technology. The company also said that it will start mass production of this new battery technology in 2022.
What’s new in High-Silicon Lithium batteries?
XDA Developers report that this new technology features three times more of the silicon content on the negative electrodes as compared to the present-day lithium-ion batteries. The higher electrode silicon content and an advanced packaging tech bend and shrink the control circuits to sit on top of the battery and not project outwards. Basically, the battery fits more power in a smaller package.
This helps the company to pack 10 per cent more capacity in the same size of the battery. The report also adds that the image shared by Xiaomi shows its new battery pack a bit smaller than the traditional lithium-ion battery, yet the company claims that it will offer the same capacity in a smaller size.
This means a phone with a battery capacity of let’s say 4000mah might be capable of squeezing in 4400mAh capacity in the same physical space with this new battery tech. Moreover, the batteries are also expected to be equipped with some kind of a “fuel-gauge chip” that helps in better battery longevity and safety, reports Android Police.
Battery safety
It is also expected to feature an in-built functionality that will support intelligent overnight charging. Several existing smartphones can delay a battery from hitting 100 per cent until you take it off the charger in the morning to avoid unnecessary wear on the battery overnight. Xiaomi is going to bring this technology directly to the battery controller with other safety features like in-built temperature management and other connected analytics.
Other battery technology
Some of the other battery technologies that are being imbibed in consumer devices these days include Graphene, which is not that significant. As discussed earlier, we all know that charging technology is also developing as Xiaomi released its new 120W fast charging technology which is really fast but not all Xiaomi phones support it at its highest speed. We have also recently been introduced to the upcoming USB Power Delivery standard that can deliver up to 240W over a USB-C cable.
Importance and mass-productivity
The 10 per cent increase might not sound like a great achievement but it is expected to make a significant difference in the future. The higher capacity batteries are expected to give brands the flexibility to either offer a battery with higher capacity on their phones without the battery pack needing more room or they can also use the extra space to add more/better hardware by using a smaller battery on their phones. Not only the increased capacity, Xiaomi also claims that its upcoming high-silicon lithium batteries can extend the battery life by 100 minutes.
Xiaomi has said that it will start mass-producing the new batteries in the second half of 2022, so we can’t expect to see the end of the next year. The upcoming Xiaomi 12 series might not feature the new batteries, but we might see the new battery technology in the Xiaomi flagship lineup of 2022.