Honor doubles down on silicon battery tech for better energy storage with 5,600 mAh in Magic 6 Pro

Silicon-carbon batteries may be the future of mobile batteries, offering better energy density and saftey in a more sustainable battery. In its upcoming Magic 6 Pro, Honor is showing off the extreme testing that the new battery can survive in.

This technology has been around for a while, but, until last year, it really wasn’t used in any consumer products. That changed with the Honor Magic 5 Pro in China, which had the first consumer Silicon-carbon battery. Since then Honor has expanded this tech to the Honor Magic V2 foldable.

The biggest buzz around silicon-carbon batteries is their potential to store much more energy in the same size compared to lithium-ion batteries. This is thanks to silicon, which can theoretically pack in around ten times more lithium ions than graphite, the current anode material. So far we’ve seen increases of 10-15% are already achievable, what we see in Honor Magic 5 Pro, Magic V2. That increase is what lets the super-thin foldable pack the same battery size as other foldables despite it’s super-thin design.

Now, Honor is further improving this tech with an improved second-generation Silicon-carbon battery in the Honor Magic 6 Pro.

Another major benefit is for fast charging. Silicon-carbon batteries accept and release lithium ions more quickly, allowing for safer and faster charging. Honor pushing this with an 80W charger on the China model of the Magic 6 Pro for the 5,600 mAh battery. OnePlus, notably, offers 100W charging on traditional batteries, but requires two cells for that speed to do it safely.

This new tech also allows for charging in more extreme temperatures, like -20C. Cold temperatures slow down the movement of lithium ions between anode and cathode making charging slow or impossible at extreme cold. Due to the increased efficiency of silicon-carbon batteries, they are actually able to charge in these cold temperatures. This is an extreme use case for a phone, but does help for users who push their phones to the far extremes.

Honor will have more details on the global version of the Magic 6 Pro (it’s already been available in China), and its new second-gen Silicon-Carbon battery tech at its MWC launch event later this month. While this tech isn’t the flashy user-forward features that generate a lot of hype, it’s simply cool technology and a good stepping stone towards more advanced battery tech in the future.

More on Honor:

• Honor’s crazy-thin Magic V2 foldable launches in Europe and UK for €1,999
• Honor Magic V2 RSR and Magic 6 series set to launch globally at MWC
• Hands-on: Honor 90 is a midrange phone with a flagship display, and it’s glorious