Super-fast-charging smartphone could be in your hands next year

When the public demands it, technology delivers it.

And in this case, that demand is summed up in one word: FAST.

The FlashBattery five-minute charging case from StoreDot, a Herzliya, Israel-based startup, is expected to roll out beginning in early 2018.

The company debuted its tech at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and it's been the subject of great fanfare ever since. It also presented its device on an episode of "Live with Kelly and Michael" that same year.

Despite host Kelly Ripa's outright incredulity, the technology does actually have an explanation. It's based on self-assembling organic nanodots, which are used in both the battery electrode (which stores the battery’s energy) and the electrolyte (which transfers energy between the battery’s two ends). According to the company, peptides or other biomolecules enhance the memory effect of the battery electrodes and allow the ions to be quickly transported. This means that the batteries can charge faster, while still discharging at a similar rate to conventional batteries.

StoreDot says its FlashBattery can charge a phone in five minutes. (Photo: StoreDot)

This same technology is also being used to develop a super-speedy electric car battery. In 2015, StoreDot announced it was developing a five-minute charge, 300-mile range EV FlashBattery, but the rollout for that is less concrete.