Apple has appointed a former top executive of Korean battery giant Samsung SDI as its global head of battery development.
Soonho Ahn (pictured), who was senior vice-president of next generation batteries and materials innovation at Samsung SDI until last month, confirmed his new appointment on his LinkedIn profile.
Ahn joined Samsung SDI in 2016 when he was put in charge of lithium-ion cell and pack developments for the company. He is also a former director of batteries R&D for LG Chem.
Apple has not commented on Ahn’s appointment. There has been speculation that the tech giant could be considering a move towards making its own batteries. Last year, Bloomberg reported Apple had started talks with mining companies to secure long-term supplies of battery materials such as cobalt.