A new Apple patent has been discovered which was filed by the company in December of 2011. While it doesn’t explicitly say that the technology mentioned in there relates to the much rumored iWatch, it does offer details about flexible battery packs that can be used in watches, calculators, laptops, tablets and music players. Since the battery pack will be flexible, it can be shaped to fit the form factor of an electronic device. In the iWatch’s case, small and flexible battery packs could mean that the entire watch strap can essentially be a big battery.
Battery life is a big concern with wearable gadgets. Conventional battery packs, lithium-ion ones for example, are rigid and can be rendered useless if subjected to extensive bending. The flexible ones, made from different layers of cells that are joined through a laminate layer, won’t suffer from this problem. The patent isn’t exactly an indication that Apple is going to launch an iWatch soon, but it certainly provides us with an alternative to a rigid battery being fixed behind the face-plate of a smart watch. Apple is rumored to unveil iWatch next year.
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