Steel-Shell vs. Soft Pack Coin Cell Batteries for TWS Earbuds: Which is Better？

TWS headset that is true wireless Bluetooth headset, the main feature is no physical wire, easy to carry, cordless prompted TWS headset need rechargeable batteries, including a pair of headset batteries and a charging bin battery, accounting for about 10%-20% of the total cost, is a key component that affects the range and a variety of performance. The mainstream TWS headset battery types currently on the market are steel-cased button batteries and soft pack button batteries. The two have differences in the amount of charge, shape and many other aspects, so TWS headphones with steel-cased button cell or soft pack button cell is good?

Steel-cased button cells or the soft-pack ones, which better for wireless earbuds?

In general, TWS headphones batteries will account for 10% to 20% of the cost. In the TWS headset composition structure can be found, whether it is the battery compartment or headphones have a battery figure. The performance of the battery will largely affect the level of endurance of TWS headphones, which is also the point of greatest concern to consumers.

TWS headset batteries are divided into soft-pack batteries and steel-cased button batteries. Soft-pack coin batteries have the advantage of lower cost, but larger due to lower space utilization, and placed in the earbuds with limited space also need to consider whether the battery expansion will bring pressure to the surrounding components, the need to reserve space for expansion bulge. Fast charging can also cause uncontrollable explosions and other safety issues.

Button battery manufacturers are finding new opportunities in the disadvantages of soft pack batteries. Previously, as Apple AirPods Pro used a button li-ion battery also once caused industry manufacturers to follow.

At present, the mainstream TWS headset battery manufacturers are Grepow, VARTA, Chongqing Zijian, Ganfeng lithium, Dongguan New Energy, Yiwei lithium, etc.. Among them, VARTA started to enter the TWS earbuds area in 2010, launching CP series rechargeable coin batteries, and now has become the head supplier in the industry, with products entering the supply chain of Apple, Bose and other brand manufacturers.

VARTA China sales manager Wang Weigang introduced in his public speech that VARTA coin cell batteries have five major advantages such as high energy density, fast charging capability, reliable cycling performance, robust battery casing and renewable energy. In terms of energy density, new materials and technologies will be introduced to improve device runtime or add more functions.

Fast charging has gradually become the standard feature of today's TWS headphones. In order to better achieve the fast charging function, Grepow  launched a fast-charging button cells that can meet 5C fast charging, which has a very high charging current and supports a maximum charging voltage of 4.45V.

Low power consumption is also TWS headset upstream and downstream manufacturers in the pursuit of performance. Information shows that in order to achieve a higher level of endurance, the lithium-ion coin cell battery of Grepow is also constantly iterating, its GRP1254 high-capacity series coin cell battery has been upgraded, from 70mAh, upgraded to 77mAh, to achieve an increase in battery capacity. The series adopts NMC ternary technology, which has excellent cycle life performance.

TWS headphone brands and battery manufacturers of steel-cased buttons

The TWS headphone market figures are always exciting. 2021, the global market for TWS headphones were shipped about 300 million units, which means at least 600 million batteries will be needed. In the same year, Varta's annual production capacity is 100 million units. The huge market has led domestic and international battery manufacturers to launch expansion plans to meet market demand while increasing their market share as much as possible. Today, Varta's production capacity for Bluetooth headsets has reached 300 million units.

At present, there are already several TWS headphones with button batteries, including Vivo TWS 3, Marshall Marshall Mode II, Redmi Redmi AirDots3 Pro and so on. According to publicly available information, Vivo TWS 3 true wireless noise cancelling headphones and OPPO Enco X true wireless noise cancelling headphones both use button batteries from MicroPower New Energy and MicroZone Electronics respectively. Grep, Nanfu and other companies have also launched high-end TWS headphones for TWS headphones special rechargeable button batteries.

For battery manufacturers such as Grepow, Varta, Ganfeng Lithium, Nanfu, etc., the explosion of the TWS market has brought them great growth opportunities, especially for players who are entering both battery compartment batteries and headphone batteries. Of course, the competition in the market is also fierce.

The above is the introduction of TWS headphones with steel-cased button batteries or with soft pack button batteries, from the above introduction can be seen in the current market TWS headphones with steel-cased button batteries have become the mainstream of the market.

But whether it is steel-cased button cell or soft pack button cell, we should choose a reliable quality button cell supplier.

Grepow, as one of the rechargeable button cell manufacturers, has continuously launched high-performance new rechargeable coin cell batteries by upgrading iterative technology and forming a patent group of core technology to realize the matching upgrade of production capacity and process, including: GRP0854, GRP8525, GRP9550, GRP1025, GRP1054, GRP1224, GRP2032, GRP2432 to help the development of audio, smart wear market, only in this way, to ensure that the battery of TWS headphones can be stable and reliable operation.