Technically speaking, smartphone batteries can be replaced. However, as the battery is the most essential component of a smartphone (indeed, a smartphone can be thought of as a large rectangular cell with a range of processors attached), the moment when a phone battery dies or becomes degraded to the point where it becomes impractical is usually the point where a user will upgrade their phone. The end of the battery usually means the end of the device.
A smartphone battery is not only the largest and most important part of your phone, but it is also the part that degrades the fastest. Nevertheless, new technologies have massively expanded the efficiency and the longevity of battery cells and have been extended to all sorts of applications. From the USB rechargeable smart batteries for household use, such as those offered by Utah-based Pale Blue Earth, to the massive batteries inside electric cars and, of course, to the batteries inside your smartphone. And even though current trends in technological development may be hinting at the eventual creation of a battery that never dies, this is still a technology that exists only in the future. Your phone battery can very certainly degrade, and the first step to managing this is to understand how it degrades.
How Your Smartphone Battery Degrades
To understand how a phone battery degrades, you need to start thinking about fractions. Every charge cycle will degrade the battery by a certain amount (albeit a very small amount). A charge cycle is defined as a full discharge of the battery, from 0% to 100%, followed by a full charge back up to full power. Partial charge cycles, which are actually more common, degrade it by a fraction of this amount.
As a rough ballpark figure, a smartphone battery will lose 20% of its capacity after four hundred or so charge cycles and will degrade thereafter at more or less the same rate. This is something to keep in mind when extending the life your phone.
How to Extend Battery Life
Avoid Extremes of Hot and Cold
Temperature can have a massive effect on your smartphone battery, and the extremes at either end will cause the battery to degrade faster. Yet some simple habits can help. Avoid leaving your phone in the car in hot or cold weather and keep it insulated on your person when not in use.
Avoid Fast Charging
“Fast charging” here means connecting your phone to a high-power source in order to charge it up quicker. This can stress the battery, so aim to connect it more often to a laptop or make use of smart plugs when a speedy charge is not necessary.
Avoid Full Cycles
Indeed. It is the charging and depletion process that exhausts your battery in the long term. So try to avoid running it all the way down to zero and similarly avoid charging it all the way from 0% to 100%. Partial cycles are your friend.
For Long-term Storage, Charge to 50%
Research has shown that around 50% battery life seems to be the optimal amount of charge for a phone to hold. Naturally, this is hard to maintain if it is in constant use. But if you expect not use your phone for a while, charge it to 50% and leave it there.
As technology advances, better batteries will be developed, and these tips will become increasingly obsolete. As things stand though, you can still make a real difference to your phones longevity by being a little canny when it comes to charging, storing, and using your smartphone.
