A new Apple patent application to be released by the United States Patent and Trademark Office suggest that our future MacBooks, iPhones, iPods and iPads could get even thinner thanks to improved batteries.

When building a portable device one of the most important parts is the battery. Too small and your device will not have enough power to last a reasonable length of time. Too big and you risk making the device too large as well as making it unnecessarily heavy.

This new patent application shows that Apple is well aware of the need for improved battery technology, and it seems it might be on to something…

The patent itself allows for batteries to be made up of electrode sheets of varying dimensions. These sheets can then be arranged in a variety of shapes such as pyramids or L-shapes rather than the conventional rectangles.

“…the battery cell may include an asymmetric and/or non-rectangular design that accommodates the shape of the portable electronic device. In turn, the battery cell may provide greater capacity, packaging efficiency, and/or voltage than rectangular battery cells in the same portable electronic device.”

By changing the size and shape of battery cells Apple could potentially increase the amount of power held within the same area, making it possible for iOS devices and MacBooks to pack higher capacity batteries without the extra size and weight.

As we always say with these things however, patents do not always lead to real world applications, but we know we’d love our devices to last a little longer so our fingers are well and truly crossed!

[Patently Apple]