The increasing miniaturization of electronics product, along with advancement in power electronics has fueled the growth of the flexible battery market. Beside this, several other factors, such as environment friendly disposability of these batteries and increasing research and development (R&D) activity in paper battery are the major growth drivers for the market. However, certain factors including lesser energy storage capacity, high initial investment along with lack of proper standardization around the world are hindering the growth of the market up to some extent. The growth of wearable electronics, along with increasing penetration of internet of things (IoT) is laying new growth opportunities for the flexible battery market.
Over the years, the battery technology has gone through many technical up gradation, for instance the energy density of lithium ion (Li-Ion) battery has improved up to 1.6 times, ever since its commercialization. The flexible batteries were commercialized in the last decade; however the market didn’t grow up to the expectations. With the rapid growth in wearable technology and IoT, many experts believe that in coming five to six years, the market will witness exponential growth. The developments in energy storage capacity, along with self-life of the flexible battery are expected to be major factors, which would influence the growth of the market during the forecast period.
Several blue chip companies are investing heavily in the development of flexible battery. However, the commercial success is found only in some niche application, such as smart tattoos, and smart skin patches. The flexible battery in smart skin patches are used across the area of skin, which facilitates the anti-wrinkle superficial on patch to be absorbed more quickly, compared to non-powered patches. Moreover, the flexible batteries can be folded without any loss of energy; in addition they are also light in weight, thus making them suitable for many portable electronics devices. The vendors of flexible batteries are focusing more on cost effective solution, in addition to market trend, such as portable, automated, flexible and connected consumer devices.
Among the various application segments, the smart packaging segment is expected to grow with a significant rate during the forecast period. Smart packaging also accounted for largest market among all the other application segments of the global flexible battery market. The wearable segment is expected to be the fastest growing application segment in the global market during the forecast period, owing the increasing market of wearable electronics.
Among the various geographies, Asia-Pacific accounted for the largest market of flexible battery in 2014. The growth of portable electronics products manufacturing in China, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea has led to high penetration of flexible battery in Asia-Pacific. North America accounted for the second largest market, owing to the growing demand of flexible battery for warble electronics products. Country wise, China, Japan, South Korea, the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, and Brazil are some of the major flexible battery markets.
Apple Inc. is the major player in North America and Europe, whereas LG and Samsung are the leading vendors in Asia-Pacific. Some of the competitors in the global market are, Apple Inc., Samsung, Nokia Technologies, STMicroelectronics, Front Edge Technology Inc., LG Chem Ltd., and Blue Spark Technologies Inc.,
Flexible Battery Market Segmentation
By Application
- Wearable
- Medical Devices
- Portable Electronics
- Energy Harvesting
- Smart Cards
- RFID
- Smart Packaging
- Wireless Networks
- Others
By Technology
- Printed Battery
- Thin-Film li-ion Battery
- Flexible Lithium Polymers
- Paper Battery
- Others
By Geography
- North America
- Europe
- Asia-Pacific
- Rest of the World
