Some manufacturers offer phones that have two battery cells connected in series which brings up the voltage to allow for ultra-fast charging. Some of these devices do not actually require a proprietary power source to achieve these speeds and allow you to use any USB PD source that has 3.3-21V⎓5A variable voltage (aka PPS) power supply. Meanwhile, while all signs point to the next iPhone having a USB-C port, there are no signs of Apple adopting a two-cell series battery setup, opting instead to keep the much slower two-cell parallel battery setup and only using a maximum of 35W. Why wouldn’t Apple want to catch up to these other companies and offer ultra-fast charging? It is many times faster than the current iPhone models.
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Other Why are there no signs of Apple going to a two-cell series battery setup for the next iPhone?
- Thread starter BijouMan
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Main reason is probably because Apple prioritizes safety and capacity. You have two cells potentially heating up at different rates and expanding differently. You need a separate BMS board for each cell (we saw this with iPhone X). This means wasted space which could be used for cell material instead. Apple doesn't intend to allow 80W-150W charging, so two cells is not helpful.
Apple leadership probably assumes there's no real profit in it. 💸
Historically, Apple tends to be behind when it comes to phone batteries; smaller batteries and slower charging are all hallmarks of iPhones over the years. The company just doesn't prioritize it for their own reasons.
There doesn’t seem to be any safety hazards with such devices from the other companies as far as I know. These devices are not ending up like the Samsung Galaxy Note7, which used a whopping 15W.
Mind you, note 7 bomb is because of manufacturing defects, not about fast charging. Besides, ultra fast charging generates heat and wears out chemicals quicker than slower charging. Even with Apple’s slow charging, we still see iphone blowing up sometimes. Imagine 150W charging.
The companies that make these devices use cells that were designed to handle these speeds safely. If such cells did not exist, these setups would not exist. The reason two cells are used is so that the difference in voltage between the battery and the power coming in is much less to reduce the amount of heat. Furthermore, this type of setup is backed by Qualcomm, who markets it as “Quick Charge 5.”
The new iPhone models were unveiled today. Apple did finally move to USB-C, but it chose not to take advantage of the extra power that direct USB-C connection offers compared to the previous USB-C to Lightning. The only difference is you no longer have to switch between cables.