Future Samsung phones may feature explosion-proof batteries

Samsung would have saved billions of dollars if the Galaxy Note 7 didn’t have a battery flaw that caused handsets to catch fire. The company has taken a lot of steps since then to ensure that something like that doesn’t happen again. It’s battery-making division, Samsung SDI, is hopeful that it will be able to supply explosion-proof batteries in a few years.

Samsung SDI has said that it will be able to produce solid-state batteries that are safe from explosion for smartphones in a couple of years. Samsung SDI is a major battery supplier for Samsung Electronics, the division that makes the smartphones, so it’s likely going to have dibs on the new battery technology.

It remains to be seen, though, how quick Samsung Electronics is to adapt this new technology. “Our technological level to produce a solid-state battery for smartphones will be mature enough in one to two years. However, it depends on Samsung Electronics whether it will be used for phones,” a Samsung SDI official told The Korea Herald.

Solid-state batteries will replace existing lithium-ion batteries that are widely used in smartphones and other mobile devices today. The next-generation battery technology relies on solid electrolytes instead of liquid and thus has significantly lower risk of combustion or explosion. Lithium-ion batteries normally explode when the liquid inside flows out and comes into contact with air or water.