How Apple made the iPhone battery last longer

Apple announced recently that iPhone has increased battery power by three hours. But how did they do it? It wasn't with super-efficient batteries, but rather with an improved glass display and efficient chips that consume less battery power.

Apple announced on Monday that its much-anticipated iPhone will offer eight hours of talk time rather than the previously announced five.

So how was Apple able to do this so quickly, since they announced in January that the batteries would last only five hours? Well, it all started with some tweaking of hardware -- and no, it doesn't involve a super battery. Batteries are the same in all devices (there are no magic batteries on the market), so the only way Apple could get the most of any battery, is by improving power management.

One way to improve the power management or efficiency is upgrading the hardware. A smartphone has a number of chips in the circuit board that controls the various functions such as the operating system, lighting, wireless connection, sound etc. The display screen consumes a large amount of power, and so do the chips. Knowing that, Apple worked with various chip manufacturers to get the most energy-efficient chips on the market.

Apple also changed the display screen from plastic to glass. The reason being, glass screens save more energy than their plastic counterparts; glass will transmit light more efficiently than plastic, giving you the same level of screen brightness using less power.

Because of these tweaks, Apple has been able to boost talk time, video and other functions to eight hours.

The question still remains what prompted Apple to do this, as some tech analysts doubt that Apple thought of it before hand. Now, they argue Apple is using the added power boost for marketing purposes.

In my opinion, they don't need any more marketing. The iPhone buzz is everywhere already, so I doubt it's a PR stunt. I believe Apple is just taking an extra step to get the best product.

Now that Apple has proven it can be done, some are urging other manufacturers to follow suit.