iPhone Batteries Could Have Apple-Designed Power Management Chips Within Two Years

[MacRumors]

Apple is designing its own power management chips for use in iPhones within the next two years, according to Nikkei Asian Review.

Apple's new in-house power management chip would be the most advanced in the industry, according to the sources, and could have processing capabilities that allow it to better monitor and control power consumption among various components. That means iPhone users could expect devices capable of delivering better performance on lower power consumption.

Apple plans to replace around half of the main power management chips that go into iPhones with its own as early as 2018, but the transition could be delayed until 2019, according to anonymous sources cited in the report.

If the report is accurate, it could be a serious blow for Dialog Semiconductor, the British company that exclusively designs the current main power management chip for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch models. Apple reportedly accounted for nearly three quarters of Dialog Semiconductor's revenue in 2016.

The main power management chip controls an iPhone's battery, including charging capabilities and energy consumption. Apple's in-house version will supposedly be "the most advanced in the industry," which could pave the way for future iPhone models to have a better performance-vs-battery life balance.

Taiwanese supplier TSMC will be the exclusive manufacturer of Apple's in-house power management chip, according to the report.

Today's report corroborates a prediction by Bankhaus Lampe analyst Karsten Iltgen, who earlier this year said that Apple will at least partially cut back on Dialog Semiconductor's supply of power management chips for future iPhones. Iltgen said Apple already has engineers working on the chips in California and Germany.

Dialog responded to the report with a statement claiming that "business relationships are in line with the normal course of business." The company's stock fell nearly 20 percent after the news broke.

Dialog Semiconductor could be the second large British company to lose significant business from Apple within the next year or two. In April, Imagination Technologies shares plunged after Apple informed the firm it plans to stop using its PowerVR graphics technology in its devices within two years.

In addition to power management chips and graphics cores, Apple appears to be moving towards in-house design of several other components, potentially including ARM-based Mac processors and iPhone modems.

Article Link: iPhone Batteries Could Have Apple-Designed Power Management Chips Within Two Years

 

[eddjedi]

About time there was some progress with battery life, for the last few iPhone releases Apple have simply announced that they "last as long as the last iPhone!"

 

[Bane-Thunder]

Now this is the kind of innovation we need.

Love my iPhone X and its battery life really impresses me coming from a 7.

 

[Stiss]

Anything to improve battery life, more battery life is always good.

Impressed with the iPhone X battery so far though. I think I’ve hit low power mode twice since owning it (since launch day) and it’s usually 40% when The day is done.

 

[MarcMller]

Always taking steps to move forward! Looking forward to this. Can we imagine iPhones lasting 2 days on average?

 

[iKnowMr.Jobs]

Hopefully they can shoehorn this into the Mac as well. Would love for my MBP to get at least the advertised battery life.

 

[DTphonehome]

Any company that depends on Apple for a large percentage of their revenue had better diversify. Eventually they’re going to bring everything in-house.

 

[Avieshek]

Apple made battery management chip.
-Oppo like VOOC Charging coming in 2019.

Then again, thinner batteries.
I would rather like to hear the Intel modem Chip problem.

 

[guzhogi]

The cynic in me says that we won't see better battery life, just thinner products due to smaller batteries.

 

[RuffyYoshi]

I'm totally down with this~ Now we won't have to b*tch about the thinnes making battery worse!

 

[spacemnspiff]

One more area (eg. Ax & Sx series SOC) where Apple will pull ahead from competition because of tighter and tighter integration of hardware and software, it will be very hard for competition to keep up. I am looking at you - Google (software) and Samsung (hardware), step up your game for healthy competition with Apple.

 

[Xavier]

When you want it done right, do it yourself.

 

[recoil80]

Dialog Semiconductor is going to have an hard time, just like Imagination tech who provided Apple's GPUs.

 

[ChrisCW11]

Well, whomever did power management for Apple's iPhones up to date deserves to be replaced.

One more area (eg. Ax & Sx series SOC) where Apple will pull ahead from competition because of tighter and tighter integration of hardware and software, it will be very hard for competition to keep up. I am looking at you - Google (software) and Samsung (hardware), step up your game for healthy competition with Apple.

Except that routinely competitive phones offer similar performance and better battery life.

I agree that in theory Apple should have very good performance and power consumption because of their tight chip design and integration, but how many more years do we have to wait for that to actually happen?

The biggest myth in phones is that one company is "pulling ahead" of the other, they are all largely lock in step with each other because they are all largely using the same core technologies, just that Apple puts a little more spit and polish on their implementations which yields slight but not significant advantages as one would expect, just makes their R&D budget more expensive which is simply passed on to the consumer.

 

[dominiongamma]

About time there was some progress with battery life, for the last few iPhone releases Apple have simply announced that they "last as long as the last iPhone!"

Agree and the battery life bar was already lower conpaired to other smart phones
[doublepost=1512052802][/doublepost]

When you want it done right, do it yourself.

Apple should have done it themselves years ago

 

[mi7chy]

I thought Apple already dropped Dialog and using their own that's why they've been having battery drain, shutoff at 30%, etc. issues. Similar to worse reception and speed after dropping Qualcomm for a cheaper and more profitable alternative.

 

[djcerla]

About time there was some progress with battery life, for the last few iPhone releases Apple have simply announced that they "last as long as the last iPhone!"

Regardless what they announce, battery life on X is simply awesome (coming from a 6S+). On normal days I go to bed with 50-56% battery left.

 

[Jsameds]

The cynic in me says that we won't see better battery life, just thinner products due to smaller batteries.

Good, iPhones have been getting thicker since iPhone 6 and could do with losing a bit of weight.

 

[jouster]

Dialog's market cap is about $2.25b. Wouldn't it be easier for Apple to buy them instead of recreating what they do internally?

I guess Apple must be pretty confident that it can do this stuff better and more cost effectively.

 

[now i see it]

This will allow Apple to put a smaller battery in the iPhone. If anyone thinks that you'll get longer battery life in a future iPhone, think again. Apple has been shrinking battery sizes in newer phones whenever the CPU becomes more efficient.

 

[cmaier]

Dialog's market cap is about $2.25b. Wouldn't it be easier for Apple to buy them instead of recreating what they do internally?

I guess Apple must be pretty confident that it can do this stuff better and more cost effectively.

These are not very complicated circuits. No point in buying someone when you already have SoC and ASIC expertise.

 

[jouster]

These are not very complicated circuits. No point in buying someone when you already have SoC and ASIC expertise.

The market has decided that these circuits are complicated enough to merit the creation and operation of a company worth over $2,000,000,000. If they are so simple, why has Apple ever needed such a company?

 

[MacLoveMacHate]

The cynic in me says that we won't see better battery life, just thinner products due to smaller batteries.

Yeah, my first thought was to read between the lines, "Apple announces plans to make next iPhone 1mm thinner."

 

[err404]

Dialog's market cap is about $2.25b. Wouldn't it be easier for Apple to buy them instead of recreating what they do internally?

I guess Apple must be pretty confident that it can do this stuff better and more cost effectively.

It sucks that Dialog tied their business so closely to a single client, but it’s not on Apple to bail them out.
I don’t think Apple will have much trouble creating an in-house solution far cheaper than buying a whole company.

 

[ACST]

Battery isn't gonna significantly improve in the next 10 years (if it was we would know about the possible techniques by now and the testing would be farther than the theoretical possibilities for battery technics are now), so what they should focus on is better more efficient charging of the batteries.