Smartphone battery life has gotten better over the years, but charging them to 100% still takes more time than we’d like.
Huawei, China’s top smartphone maker, says it has found a way to speed it up 10 times faster than current batteries.
During an industry event in Japan on Friday, Huawei showed off a lithium-ion battery that charged to 48% capacity in five minutes. The size of that battery was 3000 mAh.
The company also demonstrated a smaller, 600 mAh capacity battery that reached 68% in two minutes. (For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S6 has a 2550 mAh battery. The iPhone 6 uses an 1810 mAh battery, according to iFixit.)
“Soon, we will all be able to charge our batteries to full power in the time it takes to grab a coffee!” Huawei said.
The company said its new technology changes how lithium ions are stored and move inside the batteries — increasing charging speed.
Huawei said it’s “confident” the discovery will lead to big changes in mobile phones, electric cars and wearable devices, among other things.
Several other companies are also trying to make the battery charging process better.
Energous, Nikola Labs and a small handful of others are working on ways to charge gadgets using radio waves. The technology is making its way to the real world in a matter of months.
British hydrogen fuel cell maker Intelligent Energy says it has a working prototype of an iPhone 6 battery that doesn’t need to be charged for seven days.
