Costa Mesa start-up works to make phone batteries universal

Sitting in his company’s offices at a Costa Mesa business park, Kero Basilios assembled three attachments onto an iPhone 6: a transparent case, a hardware piece and a thin black slab slightly longer than a business card.

The hardware attachment has a rectangular hole in the center where the slab — a mockup of a portable battery — is placed. Once the phone is in the attachment, it can be charged, he said.

Basilios then switched the iPhone and the battery slab into a bigger hardware piece, this one with game control buttons on the sides. Now the phone could be used for high-definition gaming while still being charged.

The hardware frame has two purposes: to hold the battery against the phone and transfer the power in the battery into the phone.

Though Basilios realizes that phone cases with built-in batteries are already being sold, he sees a problem — those batteries can be locked into only one device.

Using a universal battery to power various devices for different purposes is the basis of his company, Xpndbls.

The company, whose name is pronounced “expandables,” was established in March.

Basilios, its chief executive, has spent more than nine years in the engineering industry. His fascination with portable chargers gave him an idea.

“Traditional battery cases are designed for only one type of phone,” Basilios said. “But what happens when you decide to change or upgrade to a different phone model? Now your battery case goes in the trash.”

To prevent waste of batteries, Basilios wanted a product that could easily move the battery to different devices.

When he thought of the idea last year, he met with former work colleague Andrew Namminga to develop the concept. The two soon invited other friends and acquaintances from the tech industry to the project. Their small company was formed.

One of its goals is to manufacture different hardware attachments to fit devices other than iPhones, such as Samsung Galaxy and HTC. The same portable battery could be used.

On April 2, Xpndbls launched a campaign on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter to help with making the different attachments.

The campaign’s goal is to raise $50,000 by May 2. As of Thursday, potential contributors had pledged about $9,300. Under Kickstarter’s rules, if the company doesn’t meet its goal by the deadline, it won’t get any money.

If Xpndbls doesn’t meet the goal, it will still produce hardware for the iPhone 6, Basilios said. Models for other smartphones would be developed, but at a slower rate, he said.

The next step is to find a manufacturer to mass-produce the company’s items.

“Our current goal is to choose a manufacturer who will be the right fit to support us,” Namminga said. “Manufacturing is what will bring this concept to reality.”

The company hopes that by September it can begin mass production of Xpndbls kits for the iPhone 6. Each kit would include a phone case, a hardware piece, the battery and a charging cable. The kit would cost up to $100.

The plan is to sell a case and hardware piece for different smartphones as a separate package for up to $25.