The iPhone Air’s real breakthrough is its battery

The article highlights the iPhone Air’s most significant innovation as its advanced battery technology rather than its thin design or miniaturized logic board. Gene Berdichevsky, co-founder and CEO of battery materials company Sila and former Tesla battery engineer, praises the iPhone Air’s battery for its revolutionary two-dimensional, metal can construction. This design allows the battery to fit into irregular, compact spaces within the phone, overcoming challenges associated with traditional L-shaped lithium-ion batteries that swell and create pinch points. The metal can battery enables Apple to maximize energy storage in limited space, making the device more efficient and reliable. Berdichevsky predicts that metal can batteries will become standard in most smartphones despite higher costs due to their superior energy density and adaptability to complex shapes. This technology is especially promising for smaller devices like AR and VR glasses, where space constraints are critical. The article also notes that Apple’s adoption of this complex battery design may delay the integration of silicon-heavy anodes, which offer about