The tech firm believes the potential mass-deployment could see the cost of the fuel cell technology plummet to as little as the price of a cup of coffee, hypothetically opening up a market it claims is worth as much as £300bn a year.
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Intelligent Energy has made a working iPhone 6 prototype containing both a rechargeable battery and its own patented technology, which creates electricity by combining hydrogen and oxygen, producing only small amounts of water and heat as waste.
The Telegraph reported that the system developed by Intelligent Energy can fit inside a standard iPhone 6, although some vents would be needed for the release of an imperceptibly small discharge of water vapour.
This is a major step because if you are moving to a new technology you have to give people a path they are comfortable with, he added. Apple is yet to respond to a request for comment from IBTimes UK as to whether it is considering using hydrogen fuel cells within its devices in the future. The battery is now recharged by refilling the fuel cell with hydrogen gas through the iPhone’s headphone socket, adapted so it can funnel the hydrogen to the fuel cell.
One such disposable cartridge the company hopes would allow the device to work several times longer than the current lithium-ion models – up to a week of usage on a single charge.
When will it be available?
Intelligent Energy already offers a $200 hydrogen battery device, called Upp. Given that getting your iPhone 6 to last beyond two days can be a bit of a challenge, a week without charging is no doubt very impressive indeed.
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Mark Lawson-Statham, the company’s corporate finance chief told the Telegraph: “Our view is that this is a couple of years out, but really it’s about how quickly does our partner want to press the button and get on with it?”
