Will Battery OEMs be Prepared for the IoT Revolution?

Smart devices and the IoT are poised to take over the tech world. Spending on IoT technologies, apps, and solutions are expected to reach $267 billion by 2020^[1] and there will be an estimated 20.4 billion connected devices in circulation, according to research firm Gartner^[2].

“Services are dominated by the professional IoT-operational technology category, in which providers assist businesses in designing, implementing and operating IoT systems,” says Denise Rueb, Research Director at Gartner. “However, connectivity services and consumer services will grow at a faster pace. Consumer IoT services are newer and growing off a small base.”

Because of the prosperity of these connected devices, battery needs are evolving to meet the demands of energy usage. As the cost of creating these batteries decreases, it will be more commonplace to find smart devices that can be connected through the internet of things, and with this variety, battery OEMs will face challenges of meeting the demands for device energy and battery design.

Wearable manufacturers, for example, are designing wearable tech to be less bulky and to custom fit its owner. Battery designers thus need to recreate existing battery design to fit these new constructs without being a detriment to the wearable’s architecture.

^[1] https://www.electronicspecifier.com/power/is-your-battery-ready-for-the-iot-boom

^[2] https://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3598917