Does the way you charge your smartphone reduce its lifespan?
- Should you charge your phone overnight? Should they be kept on 100 per cent? Here’s how you can keep that battery efficient, says Antonio Villas-Boas
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you might be reducing your phone battery's long-term lifespan with certain charging behaviours.
Specifically, if you often charge your phone overnight or keep it plugged in for hours after it's reached 100 per cent, you're accelerating the ageing process of lithium-ion smartphone batteries.
“If you're going to charge your phone to 100 per cent and keep it at 100 per cent – just keep on charging and charging overnight – this will have negative influence on [the battery’s] ageing,” says Dominik Schulte, managing director of Germany-based battery technology consultancy firm BatterieIngenieure.
Indeed, as a lithium-ion battery ages, the chemistry within it changes and becomes less efficient at storing and delivering power to your device.
If you're going to charge your phone to 100 per cent and keep it at 100 per cent – just keep on charging and charging overnight – this will have negative influence on [the battery’s] ageing
Certainly all lithium-ion batteries age and have a limited lifespan.
No matter what you do, your phone's battery capacity – which translates to a battery's lifespan – will degrade over time as you use it.
However, you can have a say in how quickly your smartphone battery ages.
Check out what you need to know about charging your smartphone's battery.
Phone companies don't seem too bothered