Could Sony have finally solved one of the biggest problems in technology? Or is it just the latest in a long line of wild battery claims? According to the Japanese site Nikkei, the company is working on a new type of smartphone battery that lasts 40% longer on a single charge compared to a normal lithium battery. What Sony has managed to do, it seems, is develop a battery based on a sulphur compound rather than lithium – which means more power can be stored. Sulphur batteries aren’t a new idea – they’ve been tried before but the problem has been that electrodes dissolve power at a faster rate than in lithium cells. With this latest development though, Sony has apparently managed to change the electrolyte solution. Turning lead into goldThe upshot of this technology could be longer lasting batteries but it could also mean smaller batteries – as they will be more efficient. This could mean even thinner phones in the future. Battery technology has long been the “turning lead into gold” of the tech industry. In recent months we’ve heard about Huawei’s supposed faster charging technology, LG and Samsung battling to double battery life and scientists reckoning they can quadruple batteries. Sony’s said to be currently safety testing its sulphur technology, and we’ll be waiting until at least 2020 for it to arrive in phones we can buy.