Over half of cellular telephone batteries being sold on the local market have been tested as being of a lower power rating than advertised, members of the non-governmental Consumers' Foundation said yesterday.
They also said that many batteries made for use with well-known brand-names and models produced only 80 percent of the power designed for those mobile phones.
The foundation said as most of the batteries on the market were not made by the mobile phone manufacturers, the quality of the products was inconsistent at best and dangerous at worst.
This has been proven by the number of battery-burn accidents that users of mobile phones have suffered, said the foundation's director, Lee Feng-ao (
Lee said the test was conducted by an inspection committee run by the foundation, along with technical assistance from the power resources department at the National Industry Technology Research Institute (工業技術研究院).
Of the 105 products the team looked at, the foundation discovered that over 50 percent of the batteries held a charge less than the indicated amperage.
More than 60 percent of the products had a power intensity lower than the required standard for the mobile phone for which they were intended, which means, Lee said, actual battery function time is not as long as advertised.
Test results revealed that lithium batteries were of an inferior quality, with 74 percent of these batteries held a lower charge than advertised.
Seventy-eight percent of lithium batteries held a lower charge than other batteries for similar phones.
Lithium batteries are designed to have a higher power and last longer than rival nickel-cadmium batteries, which have made them popular among many consumers.
But the test results also indicated that the lithium products had a higher defect ratio, said the foundation.
Nickel-cadmium battery prices vary between NT$299 and NT$1,490, while lithium batteries cost between NT$550 to NT$2,599, or twice the price of their better-functioning rivals.
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