No matter how much faster, thinner or bigger iPhones get with each passing year, most users have one consistent complaint: the painfully small annual improvements to the device's battery life.
The latest iPhone rumor from KGI Security analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, a reliable source for leaks in the past, might finally put those complaints to rest.
Kuo says Apple will boost the power of the upcoming iPhone 8 by fitting a bigger battery into a smaller package. To make room, other components will be stacked on top of one another within the device, according to a research note spotted by MacRum
Kuo said the iPhone 8 will have similar dimensions to the current 4.7-inch iPhone 7, which has a 1,960 mAh battery, but the additional space inside will make way for a 2,700 mAh battery. That would roughly match the iPhone 8 to the iPhone 7 Plus, which has a 2,900 mAh battery.
The new battery, along with the flagship's rumored OLED display, which would be much more energy efficient than the current LCD design, could help the iPhone 8 have much longer-lasting charges than its predecessors. Add in wireless charging, which is also said to be in the cards for 2017, and the iPhone 8's battery could be a radically new experience for Apple fans.
All that said, Kuo's note has some bad news for everyone waiting for super long-lasting smartphone batteries. Apple's shift to the stacked logic board is apparently necessary because "battery material tech isn’t likely to see major breakthroughs in the next three to five years," and this could be the only way to make more space on the mainboard for the battery. Your dreams of living life with weeks between charges will have to stay in fantasyland.
In addition to this latest leak, Kuo has been credited for some of the more prevalent iPhone 8 rumors: the all glass and metal design, the removal of the iPhone's home button in favor of an embedded thumbprint sensor and the addition of some sort of facial-tracking sensors.
The new tech could amount to a $1,000 device—so start saving now.