A smartphone battery that lasts a week? Unlikely, says Qualcomm

A smartphone battery that lasts a week? Unlikely, says Qualcomm
You'll still be seeing a lot of your charger in the future

We're waiting for the day when our smartphone battery will last a week on a single charge, but sadly that day will probably never come.

TechRadar spoke to Laurent Fournier, Qualcomm's Senior Director for Business Development, at MWC 2014 who revealed the technology isn't heading towards a smartphone battery that can last days, but rather one that can be charged quickly.

"It's too optimistic" to hope for a smartphone battery that lasts a week, explained Fournier. "The batteries in the old GSM phones that could effectively last an entire week are not something current technology can deliver to smartphones."

"This is because the number of applications and demands a user has of their smartphone does not allow for that kind of performance from the battery."

The classic one day

"Today's smartphone batteries are generally expected to last a day and we are investing more in speeding up the charge, rather than effectively extending the lifetime of the battery beyond the classic one day."

When it comes to actually charging your phone, Qualcomm is pushing the wireless option which already features in some handsets.

"We've announced our version 2.0 of our wireless charging technology and that's definitely the trend we're pursuing," Fournier told us.

So perhaps the nightly charging ritual is going to get easier for more of us, but you won't be waving it goodbye anytime soon.

John McCann
Global Managing Editor

John joined TechRadar over a decade ago as Staff Writer for Phones, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He's interviewed CEOs from some of the world's biggest tech firms, visited their HQs and has appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4. Originally specializing in phones, tablets and wearables, John is now TechRadar's resident automotive expert, reviewing the latest and greatest EVs and PHEVs on the market. John also looks after the day-to-day running of the site.