In what it claims is a world first, it has incorporated a fuel cell system into the current iPhone 6 without any adjustment to the size or shape of the device. The prototype iPhone, seen exclusively by The Telegraph, is essentially unmodified. The only difference is the addition of extra vents at its rear, which are designed to allow water vapour to escape – a by-product of hydrogen fuel cell technology.
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Intelligent Energy claims to have created a working prototype of a hydrogen battery, fitting in current phone designs and offering a seven-day charge.
The company is now developing a disposable cartridge, fixed to the bottom of future smartphones, for commercial release.
According to the report, the fuel cell sits alongside the normal iPhone 6 lithium-ion battery, and is refilled through the headset jack.
He said that they have now managed to make a fuel cell so thin that it can fit it to the existing chassis without alterations and retaining the rechargeable battery. Henri Winand, company CEO, told The Telegraph: “To our knowledge this has never been done before”. While both companies have yet to confirm the veracity of the rumors, Intelligent Energy touts the new technology as sound and that the sole thing that is left for them to do is how to market it. External power banks utilising fuel cells can already be bought and used as a way to quickly top up a device on the go.
Wonder how much they’ll charge for it?
Panic induced charger-finding-runs to revive iPhones on their deathbed, could soon become less frequent if a new type of battery from tech company Intelligent Energy takes off.
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The company has already hinted that it is waiting for its phone-manufacturing partner to turn the prototype into a commercial product – but refused to comment whether that mysterious partner is Apple Inc.
