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There are two trends going on here. On one hand, mobile devices are getting thinner and lighter. On the other hand, screens are getting bigger to accommodate touch interface comfortably while more versatile, graphics-heavy apps are demanding more power quite dramatically. If we had another hand, we’d probably have a smartphone in that one, too.

People also want to charge them less often. Although Li-Po batteries were a good try, they still they don’t provide enough usage time for the devices currently on the market. According to Microwave Journal, smartphone power demands are spiking and have been for the past few years, with power consumption increasing 300 percent for displays, 275 percent for peripherals, and 200 percent for processors since 2009.

With the advances in fat pipe Wi-Fi and cellular data packages, streaming HD video in real time has become a standard feature, driving up power consumption in all three of the major battery hogs. RFID and near field communication payment systems have already begun to require more power as these technologies communicate directly with other devices, transforming your smartphone into a wallet, ID and a keychain. With this sort of responsibility, finding a reliable power source when you need it will become a serious issue.

Not only are we downloading more powerful apps, we’re spend more quality time with our phones. Sales from apps are a $30 billion market right now and they have more than doubled in revenue every year since 2008. In a clear sign of the future, Angry Birds is approaching 2 billion downloads while sales of TVs have decreased this year for the first time since they were invented. The Business Insider demonstrated our growing dependence on apps by comparing how long three generations of Internet technologies took to secure one million users. It took AOL nine years; Facebook nine months. The Draw Something app took 9 days.

The two apps mentioned above are games, because we are spending almost half of our smartphone time playing games. Another quarter of the time is on social media, which is a kind of game in itself. Both types of interactions are driving up power consumption through advanced graphic displays. The future of 3D holo-displays is already under development and we can expect more realistic renderings in all our apps. Perhaps, as they say, in the end we will be able to do everything with nothing. In the meantime, stay close to your charger.