Sooner than you think, you could routinely use your iPhone for up to a week at a time without recharging. That’s because Apple is rumored to be working with the British technology firm Intelligent Energy on a new type of battery that can power the iPhone for this long using hydrogen fuel.
The UK news website The Telegraph reports that Intelligent Energy has already produced a prototype hydrogen-powered iPhone. This iPhone makes use of the firm’s own patented technology, which combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity.
The company further claims to be the world’s first to integrate a hydrogen fuel cell system into the iPhone 6 while leaving the handset’s current size and shape intact. The only visual modifications are rear vents to allow for the escape of water vapor, which would be imperceptible to the user.
Especially intriguingly, it is said that Apple are collaborating with the company on the hydrogen-powered battery, but this remains officially unconfirmed; both Apple and Intelligent Energy chief executive, Henri Winand, refused to comment when pressed to clarify whether the Cupertino giant was indeed involved.
Still, Winand has declared the successfully altered iPhone “a major step”. His firm’s corporate finance chief, Mark Lawson-Statham, predicted that hydrogen-powered iPhones are “a couple of years out but really it’s about how quickly does our partner want to press the button and get on with it?”