Panasonic’s New Pin-Sized Battery Unlocks Potential for Wearables

As devices have gotten smaller and more compact, battery size and their according power have been a constant limitation, particularly for wearables and even for the oft-discussed Internet of Things (IoT). However, Panasonic has just made a huge breakthrough with the release of their pin-sized battery, making size limitations a thing of the past.

With the battery being only 20 millimeters long, 3.5 millimeters in diameter and 0.6g, it is astonishingly one-twentieth the size of a AAA battery. Which is an immense improvement for wearable batteries, where size was a big concern for wearables that continue to decrease in size. The CG-320 (the official name of the battery) is actually the smallest in the industry in terms of capacity by volume, with a nominal capacity of 13 mAh and voltage of 3.75 V. With that capacity, the battery allows for Bluetooth, as well as NFC links with smartphones, which are essential features of nearly all wearables as well as for the IoT.

Some of the possible uses of the CG-320 battery.
Source: Panasonic.

To give a comparison for size, Jawbone’s UP24 activity monitor uses a 32 mAh lithium-ion battery, the most common battery for wearable smart devices. While it has more power, it is much larger than the CG-320, making it incapable of being in certain devices. To address the power differential, Panasonic has plans to make slightly larger pin-shaped batteries with capacities of 30mAh and 50mAh, giving them much more room for power.

Panasonic has plans to mass-produce the CG-320, with monthly production of 100,000 units and shipping to begin in February. With such a massive schedule, there are potentially already plans to integrate these batteries into future devices.

The post Panasonic’s New Pin-Sized Battery Unlocks Potential for Wearables appeared first on Wearables.com.