If you've been paying attention to the technical side of smartphone development over the last 18 months or so, which not everyone does, you may have noticed a huge swell in attention over one big new feature. Battery life, after being relatively static for years in the best phones, could be in line for a new revolution thanks to a replacement for the traditional, simpler lithium-ion pack.
It's called silicone carbide, and in fact, it's still a lithium-ion battery, but with fancier anodes that allow for much greater energy density, meaning more battery capacity in smaller packages. When I went to Shenzhen a couple of weeks ago to see various OnePlus facilities, you could see evidence of these new batteries in a few places.
