Apple Sets 2025 Goal for Launch of In-House Batteries: Report

Apple is reportedly developing a next-generation battery with a commercialization goal set for 2025. The tech giant’s battery project, which has been in the works for several years, is poised to reveal a new level of performance enhancement.

Industry sources speaking to ET News (via MacRumors) on November 6 indicate that Apple’s battery development project is underway, aiming for deployment in products post-2025. The company is involved in the direct development of battery materials, including cathodes and anodes, striving to significantly improve performance beyond current standards.

The cathode material, a critical component determining battery energy density, output, and stability, is under innovation at Apple. The company is known to be exploring a novel composition of materials, including nickel, cobalt, manganese, and aluminum, to enhance performance.

Furthermore, Apple is considering the use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a conductive agent to improve battery material performance. CNTs, which facilitate electron movement between active materials, could offer superior performance even in smaller quantities compared to existing conductive agents.

For anodes, Apple is developing technology that dramatically increases silicon content, which could enhance battery capacity and reduce charge-discharge times. Although silicon expands during charging, Apple is believed to have developed a solution to this issue.

Multiple industry insiders familiar with Apple’s operations suggest that the company’s focus on material innovation from the ground up is in response to the growing demand for high-performance batteries, driven by the expansion of mobile user experiences into metaverse and mixed reality (MR) applications.

Could Apple do battery tech like it has for CPU and GPU advancements in Apple Silicon?

Apple’s move into battery development has been hinted at since 2018, with the recruitment of experts and patent filings. The company has hired former Samsung SDI executives to lead battery development and has been rumoured to be working on Apple Car with its own designed batteries. However, the current development focus appears to be on mobile devices, with Apple seemingly operating multiple battery development projects concurrently.