Panasonic, Samsung and LG are pushing prismatic lithium-ion batteries to be the standard solution in notebooks and ultrabooks

Unnamed industry sources are claiming that prismatic lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are receiving full support from Panasonic, Samsung and LG. These three companies are expected to start pushing standardized solutions in the second half of 2012.

Currently, the notebook industry uses 18650 cylindrical batteries for traditional notebooks, while ultrabooks and tablets mostly adopt customized LIBs that are small in size, but are not removable, to allow for thinner sizes.

However, since prismatic LIBs are about 25 to 30-percent cheaper compared to traditional LIBs with the same capacity and 5-percent lighter in weight, once the battery becomes standardized and is designed to be removable, the sources expect the penetration of prismatic LIBs in the battery market will start rising in 2013 and become the third-largest notebook battery standard.

Samsung and LG have all already decided to launch prismatic LIBs with a size of 60mm by 80mm and a thickness of 5-8mm. Acer and ASUS Computer have already decided to adopt prismatic LIBs for their upcoming ultrabooks.