Samsung might launch a phone with a fast-charging graphene battery next year

Samsung is working to launch a smartphone with a graphene battery as soon as next year, leaker of phone-related news Evan Blass tweeted on Monday. 

According to Blass, Samsung hopes to have “at least one” phone with a graphene battery either in 2020 or 2021. 

Graphene is a form of carbon with unique properties that makes it a candidate for battery technology that, potentially, blows lithium ion-based batteries out of the water. 

Samsung has been working on graphene-based tech solutions for years, and the company announced it had developed a “graphene ball” battery in late 2017. The battery could charge as much as five times faster as lithium ion batteries, commonly used in smartphones, while also allowing for bigger capacity, but the company hasn’t announced a product based on graphene batteries yet. 

According to Blass, in order for Samsung’s graphene battery to become viable as a smartphone battery, the company still needs to find ways to raise its capacity and lower cost of production. 

Batteries are an extremely important part of today’s smartphones, whose large screens and powerful chips require a lot of power. Samsung has tried to push the boundaries of Li-Ion batteries with its Galaxy Note 7, which resulted in catastrophe, so it’s no wonder the company is looking for alternative ways to extend battery life in its phones.