The real discovery of the iPhone Air is the battery of

The subtle design of the iPhone Air can be eye catching, and the amount of engineering that went into microscopy of the logical table is impressive. However, according to Gene Berdichevsky, co -founder and chief executive of the battery material manufacturer SiliaThe real discovery can be hidden elsewhere in the aluminum and glass housing.

“The battery on the new iPhone is quite remarkable,” Berdichevsky told TechCrunch. “The completely arbitrary, two-dimensional shape-look at the shape and is quite amazing.”

“I just got back from Asia and, and I have the opportunity to see some of these cells,” he added. “It’s a revolutionary part of battery technology.”

Berdichevsky knows one or two things about batteries. As a seventh Tesla employee, he led the engineering to the battery of the original Roadster, which became the standard for Teslas. Today, it drives SILA, which produces silicon ascent materials for electronic consumer and, soon, electric vehicles.

The IPhone Air Design Drop is made possible by a technology that Apple has patent called the metal battery. The basic detail is in the name: a metal housing that surrounds the entire cell, adding strength and natural durability. Most batteries used in consumer electronic elements are bags of bags, which have a soft plastic housing that is cheap for construction and allows some degree of swelling.

Apple has used L -shaped batteries on iPhones for years. All lithium -ion batteries swell to some extent and the inner corner of L becomes sting spots when this swelling occurs.

“These are very thin, and this actually makes it a bulletproof. You can now build batteries in any two -dimensional shape you want,” Berdichevsky said.

Metal batteries allow Apple to make the most of the small space in the iPhone air. “They are able to get close to the edges,” he said. It allows the battery to wipe its way to any space that is free after the various circuit boards are placed.

In the end, Berdichevsky believes that most phones will adopt metal batteries despite their additional expenses. The extra energy storage will be worth it.

It will also be “very essential” for smaller devices such as AR and VR glasses, he said, adding that he saw some original while in China. “It is even more an improvement in energy density because it allows you to fit in strange shapes,” Berdichevsky said.

The transition to such a complex battery is likely because Apple has not changed carbon ups to lithium-ion batteries for heavy silicon versions, also known as silicon-carbon.

‘If you bring [a new battery design] Online, you somehow, “you know what? Let’s use yesterday’s chemistry,” Berdichevsky said.

But the transition to the metal can facilitate the transition to silicon rises in the near future. Pure silicon ascents can store about 50% more energy than traditional graphite ascents, but the material is prone to swelling. Companies such as Sila have developed privately owned ways to manage this swelling in the material, but must be taken into account at the cell level.

“It will definitely help import silicon into such devices,” Berdichevsky said. “It allows us to promote performance limits more. We always have these commercial offs and we need to manage swelling.