There has been some commotion lately as to whether or not Apple’s iPhone 6 will have a longer battery life due to a larger enclosure potentially housing a stronger battery pack.
A new claimed photo surfaced Thursday purportedly depicting an iPhone 6 battery showing an increased capacity of 1,810mAh.
To put it in context, both the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c have a a 1,570mAh battery so this alleged component could provide a sixteen percent boost in battery capacity…
French blog NowhereElse.fr [Google translate] posted a photo of the battery pack seen top of post and below. You can clearly see markings indicating the 1,810mAh capacity.
Despite a little more than a fifteen percent boost in capacity over the existing iPhone 5s battery, 1,810mAh represents a modest increase by standards of oversized high-end Android handsets.
For example, LG’s 5.5-inch G3 has a 3,000mAh power unit inside and the 5.7-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is outfitted with a massive 3,200mAh battery.
It should be noted that NowhereElse couldn’t confirm the authenticity of this leak. For all we know, this particular component could easily belong to one of the sophisticated iPhone clones made in China.
According to DigiTimes in March, Apple is looking to switch its battery production to automated production lines allowing it to move manufacturing to wherever it likes.
The iPhone maker wanted to buy a company called Renesas SP Drivers which makes LCD Drivers in an effort to improve the iPhone’s battery life, but got outbid by touchpad maker Synaptics, its former supplier.
The company is now thought to be partnering with another firm called Intelligent Energy with the same goal of potentially improving the iPhone’s battery performance.
Taiwanese sources alleged back in April that Apple’s 5.5-inch iPhone 6 was facing delays as suppliers like Dynapack struggled to produce battery components measuring 2mm or less, especially given standard smartphone batteries typically have a thickness of roughly 2.8 – 2.9 millimeters.
Then in June, Chines sources said Apple solved production woes by teaming up with a different battery supplier, later identified as Taiwan-based Simplo Technologies.
It’s unclear whether a stronger battery is exclusively meant to power the device’s larger screen/backlighting or if it will allow for overall improvements in battery life in everyday use.
Provided the leaks are accurate, Apple’s obsession with the iPhone 6’s thinness may only yield marginal battery improvements.
According to our non-scientific poll asking whether battery life or screen size was more important to you, only one out of each four respondents opted for screen size.