Samsung is developing denser batteries and slimmer camera sensors, to be released by 2017

Samsung has just announced its plans to develop “denser” batteries and thinner camera sensors that will supposedly make their way to smartphones by the year 2017. While that may seem quite far off, the wait will likely be worth it. If Samsung accomplishes what it wants to with these plans, smartphones and individual camera and battery components produced by the company will be much thinner and more efficient.

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Samsung’s current battery tech has an energy density of 700Wh/l (Watt-hours per liter), and it expects that number to increase to 750Wh/l by the end of 2016, and to 780Wh/l by the end of 2017. Of course, this means batteries with the same capacities will be much thinner with this increased energy density, allowing the company to produce thinner devices without the need to skimp on battery capacity.

The voltage of the battery is also slated to get an increase, with the company hoping to reach a voltage of 4.40V in the next few months, and a voltage of 4.5 volts by 2017. Samsung is also working to improve its fast charging technology, and hopes for its batteries to charge up to 80 percent in just 30 minutes by the end of that year, as well. 

On the camera side of things, Samsung expects its upcoming sensors to feature a smaller pixel size, from 1.12 microns down to just 1 micron. This would result in a 23 percent decrease in thickness from 6.5mm to 5mm for a 16MP sensor and from 5.2mm to 4.5mm for a 13MP sensor. It’s possible that Samsung is risking quality when it comes to shrinking its pixel size, though this certainly isn’t a new idea. Both Sony and Nokia use a process called “pixel binning” in their higher-end cameras, which is a process Samsung could also adopt for its new sensors.

Lastly, the company is also working on a new RWB camera sensor for smartphones. RWB stands for ‘red white blue’, which Samsung hopes will provide “better color fidelity” in photos.

The year 2017 seems pretty far off, but the details Samsung has just laid out will absolutely take some time to develop. If Samsung can bring these ideas into fruition in the next few years, we’re going to see major progress in battery capacity and camera sensors on smartphones.