Battery life is still the biggest challenge faced by the wearable tech industry, but a new design from LG Chem aims to solve the problem.
The company – which is a division of the LG we all know and love – has designed a hexagonal battery, which it says boasts 25% better efficiency than rectangular ones. What's more, the company has confirmed it's coming to future generations of smartwatches.
We're not to argue with the great minds over at LG about what constitutes a hexagon – we're sure they've done their research – but it's certainly one of the worst hexagons we've seen.
In a press release, the company has said that the extra efficiency could boost battery life of smartwatches by up to four hours. Yep, four hours – they're not miracle workers, y'know. But Kwon Young-soo, president of LG Chem's battery business division, said that the new design would be instrumental in creating new devices.
"A company should come up with never-seen-before products to take the lead in the market," he said, before stating LG's intent to become a leader in the battery market.
"The best way to lead the market is by making and fostering a new market. We plan to become the world's No. 1 player in the small battery segment in 2018."
When you consider the millions of dollars of research and man hours to achieve just a four hour boost in smartwatches, it's clear that batteries are a real struggle for manufacturers.
We reported on these struggles earlier this month, and the innovations moving the world away from lithium-ion batteries.
New advanced in aluminium-ion and the huge interest in graphene are all possibilities for battery tech, but all are five years away at best.
So while we wait for the miracle battery of the future goes on, it seems that LG Chem's hexagonal battery is our best hope of longer-lasting smartwatches.
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James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.