NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, July 17, 2017

Despite remarkable advancements in smartphone technology in recent years, poor battery life remains one of the most unavoidable frustrations for modern devices.

Manufacturers have attempted to solve the issue with large, lithium-ion batteries and adaptive fast charging, but this has only offered mild success.

In an attempt to deliver a long-term solution, researchers at the University of Washington are exploring what happens if we remove batteries from smartphones altogether.

Before you discredit the concept as pointless, it is probably worth noting the team has already been able to develop a battery-free phone built entirely from off-the-shelf materials on a printed circuit board.