Your next Xiaomi phone might pack more battery life for the same size

Battery capacity has come in leaps and bounds from the early 2010s, when it wasn’t uncommon to see batteries with 2,000mAh capacities or much lower. These days, 4,000mAh tends to be the minimum for many brands, but Xiaomi has now announced new tech that allows it to squeeze even more capacity into the same battery size.

The company announced new battery technology (h/t: Xiaomi on Weibo) that maintains the same battery volume but increases capacity by up to 10%. This is made possible thanks to new high-silicon battery tech, offering a claimed three-fold increase in the battery’s silicon content, along with upgraded packaging, and a so-called “Fuel Gauge” chip.

More specifically, Xiaomi says battery life can be increased by 100 minutes with the new tech. We’re guessing this depends on the phone’s battery capacity and other factors (e.g. whether it has a high refresh rate, the type of chipset, etc).

When will we see this tech?

Xiaomi says its new battery tech will be mass-produced in the second half of 2022. This timeline suggests we’ll see the first commercial devices with the tech either at the end of 2022 or in early 2023. So you won’t be seeing this on the Xiaomi 12 series just yet.

This still sounds like a pretty welcome upgrade, especially in today’s era when 5G and high refresh rate screens put an even bigger drain on the battery. It should also be a boon for devices like clamshell foldables, which tend to have smaller batteries than conventional smartphones. This might lead to slightly thinner or smaller conventional phones too, as the company could theoretically shrink capacity slightly and still offer the same battery life as before.