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iFixit

A British firm, Intelligent Free energy, has demonstrated a new iPhone 6 fuel jail cell that integrated seamlessly into the existing chassis and tin reportedly run the device for upwards to a week. The manufacturer won't directly confirm that it has worked directly with Apple to develop a fuel cell infrastructure for the company's products, but reporters claim to have glimpsed prototype Macbook Air and iPhone devices.

You can already get various fuel jail cell chargers that combine lithium ion batteries and their own internal hardware, just what Internal Energy has worked on is (supposedly) quite different. The Telegraph reports that the company's fuel cell technology tin be integrated into an iPhone without any visible changes to the device, salvage for some boosted vents that belch h2o vapor. Total iPhone charge time? Ane calendar week.

Fuel cells

How a fuel jail cell works, courtesy of Geek.com

The infrastructure problem

The current iteration of Intelligent Energy's hardware reportedly refuels the hydrogen fuel jail cell via the headphone jack (there's no information on whether or not the jack remains usable for other purposes) and doesn't replace the existing lithium-ion battery, just supplements it. There are multiple questions near how such a system would piece of work in deployment. Intelligent Energy wants to license its technology, not produce kits wholesale, which means a phone manufacturer similar Apple tree would need to take a substantial up-front cost and integrate the engineering science into a new handset run. Doing so would mean the device needs to be tested in a number of scenarios to ensure that the fuel cell doesn't rupture or that the vents don't go obstructed when the phone is slipped into various pockets or purses.

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The Upp. The detachable cartridge is just visible at the back

Bargain with that trouble, and there'south nevertheless the question of how device refills are handled and how much it costs to superlative up the fuel prison cell. At a few dollars per fuel cell, being able to carry a week's worth of phone juice would be an astonishing feature. Intelligent Energy already has a fuel jail cell recharger in the market, dubbed Upp, but the hardware is a separate indigestible unit that connects to a device via USB. Some of these problems are analogous to those faced by the fuel cell vehicle industry, which currently has a limited marketplace.

Upp's own website notes that there are no authorized upp resellers inside 125km of my own dwelling, which points to the early adopter problems in the hydrogen economy. Right now, it'south difficult to convince people to prefer an additional ways of powering devices that relies on external power packs or cartridges when wall ability is cheap and sockets aren't difficult to observe. Apparently a weeklong battery charge for an iPhone or other smartphone could be a lifesaver in the right conditions, but unless you're heading out to hike the Appalachian Trail, information technology'due south not a disquisitional need.

Still, if any company can sell consumers on the value of a hydrogen fuel cell over and above the traditional Li-ion battery, it'south Apple tree. No word notwithstanding on whether or not the prototypes IE created volition ever come to market, only this is the kind of applied science play that could take several years to come to fruition. Sometimes that works out, as when Apple added fingerprint sensors. Others, like the company's ill-fated sapphire drinking glass venture, later on come up to null.