Most mobile phone batteries use pouch batteries. Is the iPhone16Pro stainless steel battery a hardpack battery?

At present, most mobile phone batteries use pouch batteries. Pouch batteries have gradually become the mainstream choice of mobile phone batteries because of their lightness, good safety performance and flexible design. Pouch cells are packaged in aluminium-plastic film and are lightweight and customisable in thickness, shape and capacity, making them ideal for modern electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets and ultra-thin notebooks that are thin and portable.

Cobalt oxide lithium polymer battery for iPhone14Pro (Guangxin Hongsheng GXHS)

Advantages of pouch cells

Lightweight: Pouch batteries are about 20% lighter than aluminium shell batteries, making them easy to carry and use.

Large capacity: Under the same specifications, the capacity of pouch lithium battery is 5%-10% higher than that of aluminium shell battery, which meets more energy demand.

Flexible design: The shape can be customised according to customer needs to meet the application needs of different scenarios, and can be made into various irregular shapes.

Good safety performance: The internal resistance of pouch batteries is small, which effectively reduces the self-consumption of the battery and improves safety.

Hardpack battery (Nokia BL-5C mobile phone battery)

The difference between pouch battery and hard pack battery

Hard-pack battery: Usually refers to a prismatic hard-shell lithium-ion battery with a rugged aluminium alloy casing that is durable but relatively heavy. This type of battery is more common on traditional mobile phones.

Pouch battery: Aluminium plastic composite film as the encapsulation material, light weight and flexible design, suitable for the needs of modern electronic equipment.

In extreme cases, pouch cells are more likely to bulge or crack, while hard-pack cells are at risk of exploding. In extreme cases such as overcharging or internal short circuits, pouch cells will only bulge or crack at best, and are unlikely to explode. However, pouch cells have weaker mechanical strength and may be more susceptible to damage under external shocks. Hard-pack batteries are better able to resist external shocks and pressures due to their robust metal shells, but in the event of thermal runaway inside, the metal shells may not provide enough room for expansion like the aluminium-plastic film of pouch cells, which increases safety risks.

To sum up, pouch batteries have become the mainstream choice of mobile phone batteries because of their advantages of lightness, large capacity, flexible design and good safety performance.

iPhone16Pro stainless steel case battery

The stainless steel battery of the iPhone 16 Pro is a hard-pack battery.

The shell of this battery is made of stainless steel, which has a higher surface hardness than the traditional aluminium-plastic film pouch battery, which has a better protection effect on the battery cell and has a certain heat dissipation improvement effect.

The design of stainless steel batteries has several main advantages:

Cell Protection: The stainless steel housing can better protect the battery cell from external damage.

Heat dissipation: Stainless steel has good thermal conductivity, which helps to improve the heat dissipation effect of the mobile phone.

Modular design: The modular design of the stainless steel battery makes it more convenient and quick to replace the battery.

Still, there are some drawbacks to stainless steel batteries.

Increased weight: The stainless steel material will increase the weight of the phone, which may affect the convenience of carrying.

Increased cost: Stainless steel batteries are more expensive to manufacture and may result in increased expenses for repairs and battery replacements.

Overall, the iPhone 16 Pro's stainless steel battery is designed to improve the safety and heat dissipation of the battery, but it also brings some additional cost and weight issues.

With the introduction and deepening of the concept of solid-state batteries, the protagonist of mobile phone batteries in the future will no longer be pouch batteries. However, before the mass production of solid-state mobile phone batteries, pouch batteries will still be able to carry the weight forward.