Chinese tech giant Huawei has unveiled two prototype removable lithium-ion batteries that can recharge in minutes, using a bespoke charger.
The lower capacity battery charged by 68% in two minutes – but is not big enough to run a smartphone for long.
The higher capacity one charged by 48% in five minutes and could provide up to 10 hours of talk time, the firm said.
Current battery life is a significant limiting factor in the performance of portable devices.
Many tech firms and entrepreneurs are researching the issue.
In March, Samsung announced that the batteries in its new Galaxy S6 handsets could power up to four hours of usage after a 10-minute charge.
Israeli start-up Storedot unveiled a fast-charging device at the beginning of the year which it hopes will eventually be able to charge any smartphone battery in under one minute.
Scientists are also researching alternative battery materials to the traditional lithium-ion such as aluminium and graphene.
Huawei says it used heteroatoms – atoms which are not carbon or hydrogen – which the firm claims can increase charging speeds without affecting the battery’s overall lifespan.
“Everyone in the world – consumers and all the manufacturers – would benefit from some unforeseen breakthrough in battery chemistry technology,” Motorola president Rick Osterloh told the BBC in July.
“At the moment everyone is getting interesting incremental benefits from changes in lithium-ion batteries but fundamentally there hasn’t been a Moore’s Law type curve for battery improvements and I think that would be something everyone would benefit [from].”
Moore’s Law, which became the bedrock for the computer processor industry, relates to the rate at which processor speeds increase – roughly doubling every two years.
By Zoe Kleinman
