LG Chem might not be as well-known as its parent, but that doesn’t mean the branch isn’t important. A new development by the South Korean electronics company could have major potential down the road.

What is it? A whole new form factor, a battery that is a wire. The cable-like wire battery is just really small and yet is designed with flexibility in mind. You can bend it, twist it, no problem. Right now they are a few millimeters in diameter, but the idea is to continue to shrink the size of the battery as time passes.

During testing researchers powered an iPod Nano for 10 hours using a 25 centimeter long strand do accomplish it. LG is hoping to mass produce the technology by 2017, which gives them several years to work on shrinking the size of the wire-battery.

The future potential is actually pretty huge. A small wire battery could ‘wrap’ around the inside of a smartphone or tablet case and could even pair itself with a flexible screen and casing. Even more futuristic ideas include smart clothes that have wired battery strands within them that are so tiny you won’t notice them. The point? They could power smart functions on the clothes or even work as a wireless charging back-up system for other electronic devices.

While some of these more advanced uses might be decades off, we only have about 5 years to wait before LG attempts to mass produce these things. The future looks bright when it comes to technological progress, that much is apparent.

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