Apple is about to launch its ultra-thin 5.5mm thick iPhone 17 Air during the big Awe-dropping event. With that, Apple has been rumored to try out a new silicon-carbon battery with its new skinny phone.
Typically, thinner devices mean trading battery life for a smaller profile. However, silicon-carbon batteries are meant to solve that issue. Right now, phone makers are in a race to the bottom to make ever-thinner handsets. The problem is that the standard lithium-ion battery can only get so small before you truly lose out on battery life. Enter silicon-carbon.
What makes silicon-carbon different?
Silicon-carbon batteries aren't necessarily new. Wired reported that Rice University researchers boosted lithium-ion batteries with silicon more than a decade ago.
The technology only recently started showing up in phones. Honor kicked things off in 2023 when it revealed its 5450mAh battery, promising it was coming soon to a phone.
The silicon anodes replace the graphite ones and are supposed to be able to take up to 10x more lithium ions, making them far denser. That means you could potentially fit a larger capacity battery, say 5,450mAh, in the same space as a 5,000mAh graphite one.
What phones already feature a silicon-carbon battery?
Honor didn't fully introduce a phone with a silicon-battery until 2024 with the foldable Honor Magic V3 and its 5,150 battery. The company seriously boosted that number with the Honor Magic V5, released this year. It 6,100mAh silicon-carbon battery blows away the 4,400mAh of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7.
Last year, OnePlus introduced its massive 6,000mAh glacier battery that is built on silicon-carbon in the OnePlus 13. The phone lasts nearly 20 hours on a single charge. The technology doesn't seem to have left China yet. Samsung's own ultra-skinny phone the Galaxy S25 Edge features a lithium-ion battery and you can see the drawbacks.
That phone features a 3,900mAh battery that is quaint even by Samsung standards. And in the Tom's Guide battery test the Galaxy S25 Edge lasted just 12 hours and 24 minutes. The devices on our best phone battery life list last at least 15 hours. The Galaxy S25 Ultra endured for 17:15. The S25 Edge also lasted three hours less than the vanilla Galaxy S25 model.
What we know about the iPhone 17 Air
Well-known tipster Instant Digital posted that the iPhone 17 Air battery "does not exceed" 3,000mAh. And at least one rumormonger claimed the phone would feature a 2,800mAh battery.
However, a more recent leak says that the iPhone 17 Air will pack a 3,036 mAh battery for eSIM models and a 3,148 mAh battery for new iPhones that feature a SIM card tray.
But if Apple is indeed using silicon-carbon technology, the Air could surpass the S25 Edge's endurance because of this technology. In addition, the iPhone 17 Air will reportedly use Apple's more power efficient C1 modem and other power-saving techniques to achieve longer endurance.
More from Tom's Guide
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- Apple Watch Ultra 3 — The one feature I'm dreaming of (and the one that won't happen)
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