Don’t you hate it when you’re away from home, be it on holiday, a night out or countryside stroll, and your phone dies? You could swear you charged it in the morning and that a few months ago it would have lasted much longer. Well you’re not alone, many of us get the feeling that after a certain amount of time our phone batteries just give up. Switching to different power supplies and chargers from XP Power or other tricks can prolong their life, but at the end of the day many phone batteries just don’t seem to be built to last.

Falling Battery Capacity

There’s been a lot f research done into the life of mobile phone batteries, to see if many of the conspiracies hold any element of truth. According to research from Battery University, smartphone lithium-ion batteries are built to have a lifespan of 300 to 500 charging cycles.

A charging cycle counts as every time you plug your phone in to charge when it’s below 70%. Unless you’re incredibly disciplined with your phone use and charging, this equates to about a year to 18 months’ worth of use until the battery dies. This is also assuming your phone battery isn’t exposed to anything else that may affect it, such as heat or being plugged in for too long.

No More Removable Batteries

In the early years of mobile phones, the majority came with removable batteries, but that has slowly stopped being the case. This has furthered the conspiracy that mobile batteries aren’t designed to last, forcing users to purchase a new phone earlier than they’d otherwise need.

Apple basically confirmed this, admitting that they slow down iPhones with older batteries. This led some to call for new iPhones to be designed with removable batteries, but this will never happen, as it’s not their style.

The Future of Phone Batteries

Despite it becoming clear that mobile phone batteries aren’t built to last for decades, there is ongoing work to develop more efficient, longer-lasting ones. Already wireless charging has become a reality and there is ongoing work and research into solid state lithium-ion batteries and others which can charge a lot faster and last longer.

With a greater focus on renewable energy too, expect more solar powered phone batteries to start appearing too. How long these will last and how much charge they will be able to offer remains unclear. What we do know is that phone batteries aren’t designed to last more than a couple of years.