In the fiercely competitive smartphone market, battery longevity has emerged as a top priority for consumers. With the proliferation of on-device AI capabilities and other advanced features, the power demands of mobile devices have soared, making battery innovation a pivotal factor for industry advancement. A recent visit to Honor's Smart Manufacturing Facility and Battery R&D Center provided a comprehensive glimpse into Honor's groundbreaking achievements, developmental trajectory, and strategic vision in battery technology. This showcased the technical prowess of Chinese companies in core consumer electronics components and the evolution of 'Intelligent Chinese Manufacturing.'

Lu Qingyun, a battery technology specialist at Honor, explained that the Honor Qinghai Lake Blade Battery represents a holistic project integrating materials, systems, processes, structures, and battery management. Its technological leaps are the outcome of collaborative, multi-faceted innovation across the entire value chain. In material research, the Honor team proactively explored and identified high-performance materials, such as highly biomimetic self-healing binders. These materials effectively bind internal battery components and minimize swelling. Additionally, Honor developed technologies like dynamically deposited silicon-carbon anodes, ultra-durable current collectors, and high-power solid-state electrolytes.

After pinpointing suitable materials, Honor employed Design of Experiments (DOE) to optimize the material combination for maximum compatibility and performance, culminating in a proprietary battery system. Collaborating closely with supply chain partners, Honor surmounted process and structural hurdles to enable mass production of these innovative technologies.

Battery management systems represent another core competency of Honor. The 'Dujiangyan Battery Management System,' paired with the Qinghai Lake Battery, leverages Honor's proprietary battery management algorithms embedded in its custom Dujiangyan chip. This system provides precise battery status monitoring, including effective control over swelling rates.

Guided by consumer needs and backed by a robust technical team, Honor continues to make substantial investments in battery technology. From the introduction of the first-generation Qinghai Lake Battery in the Honor Magic5 series in 2023, to addressing low-temperature performance challenges in the subsequent Magic6 series, and then to the third-generation technology in 2024, which boosted silicon content to over 10%, Honor's battery technology evolution is evident. In June 2025, the Honor Magic V5 will feature the latest Qinghai Lake Blade Battery, boasting a single diaphragm thickness of just 0.18mm, 25% silicon content, and an energy density of 901Wh/L, achieving a remarkable 6100mAh battery capacity within an 8.8mm slim profile. By early 2026, the Honor Power2 will debut with the fourth-generation Qinghai Lake Battery, elevating silicon content to 15%, energy density to 926Wh/L, and battery capacity to 10080mAh, all while maintaining a super-slim 7.98mm form factor.

At Honor's Smart Manufacturing Facility, the highly automated production environment is striking. Over 85% of the production line processes are automated, with more than 60% of the equipment independently developed by Honor. The self-developed 'Luban' industrial AI model can analyze nearly 500 part feature points simultaneously, with 125,000 parallel computations per second, achieving precision from millimeter to sub-micron levels. In battery assembly, the AI vision system, powered by 3D algorithms, enables ultra-precise control of adhesive coating weight down to 0.001 milligrams.

Honor adheres to a safety-first principle, ensuring that safety considerations are paramount in any new technology deployment. As battery capacity and energy density increase, Honor adopts a comprehensive approach combining hardware and software management to safeguard battery integrity. In terms of technological pathways, Honor's batteries already fall under the 'semi-solid-state battery' category. Honor has independently developed solid-state electrolyte materials, which, when incorporated into batteries, enable compatibility with higher energy density electrode materials and enhance ion transmission speed within electrodes.

Regarding future technological directions, such as solid-state batteries and graphene, Lu Qingyun noted that graphene is currently primarily used in small quantities as a conductive agent, mainly in academic research. Solid-state batteries represent one of the next-generation technological frontiers the industry will collectively pursue, although they still face significant technical and engineering hurdles. Nevertheless, some technologies developed during solid-state battery research have already been applied in mass production. With ongoing improvements in industrial infrastructure, their large-scale commercialization is anticipated.

Lu Qingyun disclosed that Honor's future battery R&D will continue to prioritize safety while focusing on enhancing energy density and optimizing related attributes such as fast charging and lifespan. AI technology will also play a supportive role in R&D efforts. While AI may not directly drive pure technological breakthroughs at present, it significantly boosts efficiency in industry information gathering and data processing, aiding R&D teams in rapidly accessing and expanding their knowledge base. Furthermore, Honor has pledged to invest over US$10 billion in the next five years, collaborating with global partners to construct an open, co-creative, and shared AI terminal ecosystem, accelerating progress toward carbon neutrality goals, and striving to achieve full industrial chain and product carbon neutrality by 2050.

Through an innovative 'enterprise-led + supply chain collaboration' model, Honor promotes the widespread adoption of technologies like silicon-carbon anodes in the industry, driving collective advancement across the entire industrial chain. By fostering new quality productive forces through technological innovation, Honor empowers high-quality industrial development.