Tech

A future where iPhones stay charged for a week

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A British company is testing the limits of alternative energy for an unlikely cause: Your iPhone battery.

You could soon have a week of battery life, thanks to a rechargeable hydrogen fuel cell that fits directly in your iPhone 6. International energy firm Intelligent Energy developed a prototype that would replace your traditional iPhone battery with clean, efficient energy, they revealed to British news source The Telegraph this week.

The company aims to solve one of the most oft-begrudged problems with consumer technology. A third of adults see "improved battery life" as the smartphone feature they are most excited about, the leading answer in a Fortune magazine survey of 1,000 people, taken online in January.

Is hydrogen the fuel of the future?
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Is hydrogen the fuel of the future?

Intelligent Energy already has a portable external hydrogen fuel cell charger that can plug in to a USB port, called Upp, available in Apple stores in the U.K. The slim recyclable canister lasts for nine years and five phone charges, and doesn't need to be pre-charged with electricity, allowing users to live "off the grid."

"This mobile charger offers instant mobile power and total freedom from desperate charging situations," a spokeswoman told CNBC. "It is quite literally a mini, portable generator."

But the new prototype, shown to The Telegraph, would be fit inside the phone chassis and have more extended life, completely substituting the traditional lithium-ion battery. The company, which also makes automotive batteries, did not disclose a date when the new model would be available to consumers, though it told The Telegraph it could be as soon as a couple of years.

For more on the technology, read the full story at The Telegraph.

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