Amazon has issued a voluntary recall of six AmazonBasics portable battery chargers due to overheating, The Verge reports. The power banks, sold between December 2014 and July 2017, have a risk of overheating, causing them to melt, which could cause a fire hazard. The report says the recall is being done in partnership with the US Consumer Product …
One of the biggest stories in consumer electronics right now is Apple’s secret throttling of older iPhone models with aging batteries. The company misled customers for years as “conspiracy theorists” claimed Apple was intentionally slowing down older iPhone models in order to force people to upgrade. While Apple contends that the reason behind the throttling …
In a statement this afternoon, Apple addressed the consumer outrage about deliberately slowing down old iPhones with bad batteries. In its statement, Apple briefly explained why performance limitations are needed, apologized for the “misunderstanding,” and cut the price of a battery replacement (which fixes performance issues) by $50, from $79 to $29. But the brief …
Despite often annoying us with shorter-than-ideal lifespans and the occasional explosion, modern rechargeable batteries are actually quite remarkable, especially when you consider the power they’re able to hold in very small footprints. That said, they could always be better, and while capacity is always a hot topic for those building the batteries of tomorrow, researchers …
Electric vehicles have a few key advantages over traditional combustion-powered cars, and one of the biggest is the potential for extreme acceleration. The Tesla Model S, for example, can go from a standing stop to 60 mph in as little as 2.3 seconds, beating out cars with badges reading Ferrari, Lamborghini, McLaren, and Porsche. Now, thanks …
Anyone with a laptop computer or smartphone knows all about how batteries lose their capacity over time. The day you bought it, your phone could cruise through the day without issue, but two years of daily charges takes its toll and before long you’re running for power outlets by lunch time. But for as common …
When it comes to processors, heat is enemy number one. Packing ever more powerful processors into constantly shrinking mobile technology is a recipe for cramped cases and constantly troublesome heat buildup. Researchers from IBM and ETH Zurich think they may be on the verge of a truly novel solution, and it’s based on a component that every …
Energy storage degradation in rechargeable batteries is a pretty serious problem that many of us put up with on a regular basis. It’s why your iPhone seems to last forever when it’s brand new out of the box but seems like it dies by lunchtime after a couple of years of use. Now, researchers at …
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: an awesome, revolutionary, life-changing battery technology was just developed by researchers, allowing smartphones to last longer with less degradation over time, and maybe it’ll end up in your next device. Cool, right? This latest breakthrough in battery design comes from Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering, where professor Christopher …
Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 was absolutely the most publicized example of faulty battery technology in the history of mobile phones, but exploding batteries aren’t exclusively a Samsung problem. A quick Google search will produce news stories about defective batteries in phones from Apple, LG, Sony, Nokia, and every other major manufacturer. Lithium-ion batteries are simply not …
