New battery circuitry could give 2020 iPhones more space for actual battery

iPhone 6 teardown (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

2020 iPhones might have larger batteries than previous models.
Smaller battery circuitry would allow for larger batteries in the same space.
Apple already made the 2019 iPhone batteries larger with great success.

Apple's 2020 iPhones – or at least some of them – might be able to pack larger batteries if a new report is accurate. That report has Apple opting to use a smaller battery protection circuit, allowing for larger batteries to be used.

That report comes from The Elec (via MacRumors) and has Apple using new battery protection circuits from provider ITM Semiconductor. The company already makes the same modules for Samasung which uses it in its Galaxy S11, so it's already tried and tested.

The battery protection circuit helps the power source manage charging and discharging to ensure it does so at safe rates. ITM Semidoncuctor apparently pairs the circuit with a MOSFET anad PCB, reducing the space required for the whole package.

If all goes according to plan this new part will be used in at least some of Apple's 2020 iPhones. Quite how many the company will release is currently the subject of great discussion, with as many as five phones potentially in the cards. If that's the case we may finally see the end of the iPhone SE rumors, with a new phone pencilled in for the first quarter of 2020.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.