Mobile phone lithium battery - waiting for technological breakthrough
The development of mobile phone batteries has entered a period of rapid growth. Data shows that the global smartphone battery market revenue in 2021 will reach 8.7 billion US dollars, achieving a year-on-year growth of 10% compared with 2020, in terms of market share.
Data shows that ATL (Amperex Technology) as one of Top 100 lithium ion battery manufacturers in China has the highest market share, ranking first in the world with a 42% share. LG Energy Solutions came in second with a market share of 22%. Samsung SDI ranked third with an 18% market share. In terms of leading companies, ATL, LG and Samsung account for 82% of the total market revenue.
The industrial chain is mature and the output is growing rapidly
In China, since its inception in 1990, the mobile phone battery industry has gradually become independent innovation, from simple OEM to deep integration into the supply chain, and has become a gathering place for major suppliers of mobile phone batteries in the world.
After nearly 30 years of development, China’s mobile phone battery production plants have grown from a few at the beginning to hundreds of them, and have achieved a breakthrough in quantity. China has become one of the world’s largest producers and consumers of mobile phone batteries.
Under the guidance of the relevant national policies for the standardized development of the mobile phone battery industry, many cities in China have begun to strengthen the layout of the mobile phone battery field, and local governments are actively attracting investment. Residential”, making a new battery industry cluster initially formed.
From the perspective of regional competition, China’s mobile phone battery industry has initially formed a comprehensive development trend in the Pearl River Delta region, the Yangtze River Delta region, the Bohai Rim region, and key regions in the central and western regions.
Among them, the Pearl River Delta region has gathered a large number of leading enterprises, the production of mobile phone batteries is leading in the country, and the industrial chain is relatively complete; the Yangtze River Delta region and the Bohai Rim region have a better scientific research environment and obvious technological advantages.
Sichuan, Jiangxi, Qinghai, Tibet and other central and western key regions are rich in lithium ore resources, and the labor cost is relatively low, and the output of mobile phone batteries is growing rapidly.
At present, under the dual promotion of national policies and subsidies in recent years, a large number of large mobile phone battery ODM/OEM companies with mature industrial chain, supply chain and market scale have been born.
The more prominent ones include Fujian Scud Group, Shenzhen Desay Battery, BYD, Kangshu Technology, Shunda Electronic Technology, Xinpu Technology, Huapu Battery Technology, Ningde Times, etc.
In addition, Samsung, LG, Sony, and ATL all have foundries in China.
Data shows that in 2021, China’s lithium-ion battery output will be 324GWh, a year-on-year increase of 106%. As the industry’s mainstream consumer lithium battery (including mobile phone lithium battery), the output will be 72GWh, a year-on-year increase of 18%.
Among them, the output of the four key materials for mobile phone batteries has grown rapidly. According to estimates by research institutions, the positive electrode materials, separators and electrolytes, which are important materials for mobile phone batteries, have increased by nearly 100%. Related companies can refer to Top 5 battery separator companies, Top 10 lithium ion battery electrolyte company and Top 5 lithium iron phosphate cathode material companies.
Demand for lithium cobalt oxide mobile phone batteries weakens
Data shows that in the first quarter of 2022, global smartphone shipments fell by 11% year-on-year due to the poor economic situation and seasonally weak demand. At present, an important part of the smartphone is the lithium battery.
Due to its stable structure, high specific capacity, and outstanding comprehensive performance, lithium cobalt oxide batteries are mainly used in small and medium-sized batteries, so they are widely used in 3C digital terminal products. Shipments of 3C digital products such as mobile phones in the first quarter The reduction will inevitably bring about a weakening of the demand for lithium cobalt oxide batteries.
The cathode materials of lithium cobalt oxide batteries are mainly made of cobalt tetroxide and lithium carbonate. The upstream of the industry chain is cobalt salt and lithium salt suppliers, the midstream is mainly responsible for lithium cobalt oxide cathode material manufacturers, and the downstream is lithium cobalt oxide battery manufacturers and 3C field of digital terminals.
According to research, the decline in downstream digital product shipments has affected China’s weakening demand for cobalt tetroxide. Data in March showed that China’s cobalt tetroxide production was 6,328 tons, a decrease of 14% from the previous month and a decrease of 11% from the same period last year. The output of lithium cobalt oxide cathode material in China was 6,959 tons, up 4% month-on-month and down 16% year-on-year.
There may be three main reasons for the current weakening of demand for cobalt tetroxide, lithium cobalt oxide materials and batteries:
One is that the demand for battery materials weakened directly due to the decline in global mobile phone shipments in the first quarter due to the poor economic environment and seasonally sluggish demand.
Second, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic in recent years, consumers’ consumption concept has gradually changed, and consumption motivation is insufficient. At this stage, the mobile phone market is a stock market, not an incremental market, and the demand for new mobile phones is gradually weakening. Digital terminal shipment data dropped and has been conducted to the upstream of the battery material.
The third reason is that the prices of raw materials such as lithium carbonate and cobalt tetroxide have been at high levels since the beginning of the year. Some manufacturers of lithium cobalt oxide cathode materials have reduced production in March and April due to the impact of cost and demand, which indirectly led to March and April. Cobalt tetroxide enterprises cut production.
Capacity and supply chain
In terms of mobile phone battery technology, from the initial nickel-cadmium battery to nickel-hydrogen battery to lithium-ion battery, and the current improved version of polymer lithium-ion battery, the battery as a whole is moving towards larger and larger capacity and more and more materials. The evolution of environmental protection.
At present, the polymer lithium-ion battery widely used in the industry is an improved version of the liquid lithium-ion battery. Compared with nickel-metal hydride batteries and nickel-cadmium batteries, it has the characteristics of large power reserve, light weight, long life and short charging time. At the same time, there is no liquid lithium battery. Risk of ion battery leakage.
It also supports multi-level intelligent fast charging technology, and the working temperature is also extended to the range of -20℃~60℃. However, even with the development of battery technology to this day, the battery life of mobile phone lithium batteries still cannot meet the needs of daily continuous use.
Taking a 5000mAh large-capacity lithium battery for mobile phones as an example, it can barely meet the needs of a day (12 hours) in normal use, but it can barely meet the needs of a day (12 hours) under severe operation.
For example, when watching videos or playing games continuously, the power consumption of the battery will reach 2~3 times of daily use. In this state, the body of the mobile phone will heat up rapidly due to energy consumption, and the battery power consumption will be accelerated at the same time, so it is necessary to rely on the mobile phone. The fast charging technology needs to charge at least 2~3 times within 12 hours to ensure the normal battery life of the mobile phone.
A senior analyst at IDC said: “The development of mobile phone battery technology is relatively slow compared to other components. In the past ten years, battery capacity can only increase at a rate of 10% per year. With the current technical reserves, mobile phone battery capacity has been greatly improved in a limited space. Almost unlikely. However, the field of mobile phone battery life is still full of infinite possibilities and potentials. In the state where the battery capacity of mobile phones tends to be a bottleneck, in the future development, more scientific and efficient charging methods of mobile phones will become the key competition direction of mobile phone manufacturers. “
In terms of industry, affected by the shortage of mobile phone chips and the increase in the cost of lithium materials, the overall market growth of mobile phone batteries has slowed down.
Taking Shenzhen Desay Battery Technology Co., Ltd. as an example, the publicity data of Desay Battery in 2022 shows that the revenue of smartphone battery products in 2021 will be 9.243 billion yuan, accounting for 47.47% of the company’s total revenue.
In 2020, this figure is 10.023 billion yuan, accounting for 51.67% of the company’s total revenue. The proportion of revenue in 2021 is 7.78% lower than that in 2020, showing a downward trend.
The senior analyst said: “The smartphone battery market continues to grow demand for high-capacity batteries for mid-to-high-end devices. Dual-battery penetration exceeds 5%, driven by fast-charging technology.
Rising prices for key battery materials such as lithium have led to higher costs for smartphone batteries. In addition, the growth of battery shipments has also been affected by the reduction in smartphone production due to insufficient supply of chips. “
At the same time, Strategy Analytics believes that smartphones will increasingly use high-capacity batteries, and challenges posed by soaring component costs will continue to affect suppliers’ battery supply chains.
The future-waiting for technological breakthroughs
In terms of battery technology, it is found through research that new battery technologies are also brewing. At this stage, the energy densities of advanced ternary lithium batteries and lithium iron phosphate batteries have reached an average of 280Wh/kg and 170Wh/kg respectively. The battery system cycle life can exceed 5000 times.
In addition, new types of sodium-ion batteries, cobalt-free batteries, anode-free financial batteries, lithium metal batteries, solid-state batteries, rare metal-free batteries, lithium-air batteries, CTP, CTC, and A/B models have also attracted industry attention.
It is understood that the energy density of solid-state batteries is expected to reach 2 to 10 times that of current ternary lithium batteries, and the energy density of lithium metal batteries can easily reach more than 400wh/kg. In the process of mobile phone battery technology innovation, the parameter of battery energy density has attracted more and more attention.
In terms of industry, through research, it is found that due to the strong pull of the new energy vehicle industry, power batteries have become a new growth point other than mobile phone batteries, so the overall battery manufacturing technology and the entire energy industry are still undergoing rapid growth and evolution.
IDC analysts said: “The industrial cluster effect will enable the industry to enter a virtuous cycle of internal self-reinforcing, which will help promote the deep integration of the industrial chain and promote the maturity of the consumer battery market and technology. New battery technology breakthroughs may feed back in the future. The mobile phone battery industry that is currently in a bottleneck.”
Combining the survey results and expert analysis, although some companies’ earnings fluctuate due to the changes in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain and supply chain, the battery industry, especially the consumer battery industry, is showing a positive attitude as a whole, and new battery technology breakthroughs will become the mobile phone battery industry and even mobile phones. A new explosive growth point in the manufacturing industry.
