Android phones are marching into a future with metal case batteries according to a new rumor circulating on the internet. Currently, Android phones use what are referred to as pouch batteries, but at least one Android manufacturer is said to be experimenting with using metal case batteries like the one in Apple’s latest smartphone.
The iPhone 18 Pro Max uses a metal box battery and if it does not have an extremely high capacity, this type of technology is said to be the potential way for Android phones to reach over the 10,000mAh mark. Granted, there are already phones from some Chinese brands that have 10,000mAh or even significantly more than 10,000mAh in their batteries. However, the nature of metal case batteries is believed to allow phones to remain relatively thin while expanding battery cell capacity.
According to a prominent leaker known as Digital Chat Station on Weibo, a Chinese phone company is testing metal case batteries, and Phone Arena is speculating that it could be Xiaomi. Digital Chat Station says that this company, which remains unnamed, is “testing steel-cased batteries combined with stacked battery technology, to achieve a capacity of 9,000 – 10,000mAh in future flagship models.”
According to Phone Arena, this stacked battery technology is either silicon or silicon-carbon. Using the method to achieve higher capacities, potentially achieving the anode and cathode plates of the battery, which are stacked on top of each other in a zigzag pattern and then placed in the metal casing. Apple currently owns the patent for “metal-can batteries”, which it applied for in 2020 and has used in iPhones since the iPhone 16 series. It is also one of the reasons why the iPhone 18 Pro Max could achieve a higher battery capacity gain.