OnePlus’ gigantic rumored battery reveals what Apple and Samsung must be doing

I’ve at all times supported the concept of user-replaceable batteries in smartphones, however I do perceive why it makes some sense to make use of non-replaceable ones past simply the earnings concerned. A completely built-in one generally permits a cellphone to be extra compact, or tackle new and strange kind components. By extension, this will additionally improve energy effectivity, since different elements may be positioned and sized extra optimally.

A major instance of this can be a mysterious, upcoming OnePlus machine, rumored to have an enormous 7,800mAh battery (per Wccftech). That is even bigger than the 6,260mAh one within the

OnePlus 13T
, and it could completely smoke the 5,000 and 4,685mAH batteries within the

Galaxy S25 Ultra
and

iPhone 16 Pro Max
, respectively. In actual fact, given experiences about Apple and Samsung’s upcoming ultra-slim telephones, it seems like it may be as much as firms like OnePlus to point out the majors methods to do batteries accurately.

What are Apple and Samsung doing unsuitable, precisely?

Kind over perform

I’ve touched on this lately, so I will not go into the total particulars, however the brief model is that Apple’s rumored

iPhone 17 Air
and Samsung’s teased

Galaxy S25 Edge
are every anticipated to sacrifice battery life to attain most thinness. Certainly, the declare from The Information is that inside Apple testing estimates solely 60 to 70% of individuals will have the ability to get by a full day with out recharging — which is why the corporate can also be rumored to be creating a brand new battery pack, regardless of having discontinued the MagSafe Battery Pack in 2023.

The kicker is that each Apple and Samsung are seemingly utilizing silicon-carbon battery know-how, a latest improve of the lithium-ion batteries we see in all the things from smartphones to

electric cars
and PEVs (private electrical autos). The foremost profit is improved power density — so that you’d suppose that at a minimal, cellphone makers would maintain the road on battery life, merely shrinking their telephones a little bit.

As an alternative, Apple and Samsung appear to be prioritizing thinness in any respect prices, for causes that are not totally clear past aesthetics and bragging rights. It has been years since I’ve heard anybody complain about how thick a cellphone is, if not a decade or extra. Complaints have trended in the wrong way, I might say — and not using a case, some telephones may be so skinny and slippery that they are laborious to grip securely. Even my spouse’s OnePlus 9 5G has that subject. A number of foldables, like Google’s

Pixel 9 Pro Fold
, are so skinny when open that they really feel like they may bend or snap.

My finest guess is that the businesses try to offset the elevated manufacturing prices of silicon-carbon, however I do not know that this excuse flies in gentle of the OnePlus rumors. That 7,800mAh battery is explicitly claimed to be a silicon-carbon mannequin, making it laborious to grasp why the iPhone 17 Air could not match the 4,685mAh capability of the iPhone 16 Professional Max, by no means thoughts providing worse efficiency than the bottom iPhone 16. Even when the 7,800mAh rumor is fake, the OnePlus 13T’s 6,260mAh battery is a concrete actuality. That cellphone launched in April 2025 — one thing coming in Might or later should be in the identical ballpark.

Associated

Everything you need to know about PEVs, or personal electric vehicles

You need to use PEVs to discover, run errands, or velocity up your commute.

Getting priorities straight

Or, listening to what clients truly need

Isaac Mehegan / Unsplash

My greatest subject is that Apple and Samsung appear to be actively ignoring the longest-running public gripe about smartphones: longevity. Whereas some pre-iPhone gadgets might final a number of days on a cost, it is taken without any consideration now that you’ll want to cost a cellphone daily. Usually, twice per day is the sensible actuality.

As an experiment, I lately averted topping up my iPhone 16 Professional in any respect till bedtime. The consequence was that after roughly 16 hours, my cellphone was all the way down to 17% — regardless of my most intense actions being podcasts, some app updates, a Reuters video briefing, and some rounds of Wordle and Phrases With Associates. Apple claims that the cellphone must be able to 22 hours of continuous streaming video. That is pure fantasy, but supposedly two hours higher than the iPhone 15 Professional. I may not have the ability to deal with the iPhone 17 Air below day by day circumstances, not to mention cross-country journeys.

Each smartphone maker ought to prioritize battery life. It has been a very long time since smartphones had been a luxurious for wealthy professionals — many people rely upon them for our jobs, social lives, and navigating round city. There are rural African farmers utilizing smartphones to enhance their crop yields. In excessive eventualities, individuals depend on smartphones for survival, to the purpose that catastrophe aid companies generally embody cellphone charging of their record of priorities. Nobody must be panicking about their cellphone working low concurrently they’re making an attempt to flee a hurricane or earthquake.

I am glad, then, that at the least one firm is benefiting from silicon-carbon to do what must be an apparent factor. Generally revenue margins have to take a backseat, if not for charitable causes, then simply to fulfill genuine buyer demand and hold individuals loyal. Somebody whose cellphone is at all times working on fumes goes to be tempted by different manufacturers.

In that respect, I am interested by how Apple and Samsung’s ultra-slim telephones are going to promote. I doubt they will be outright failures, because the firms have a whole lot of promoting would possibly, and so they’ve presumably finished some primary market analysis. However I additionally doubt that the merchandise can be runaway hits — charging a premium for sub-par battery life is a recipe for weak gross sales except you provide a dramatic profit in trade. And as I’ve hopefully established, thinness can truly be a detriment lately.

I believe the best-case situation is that Apple and Samsung are conscious of this, however hope that sufficient individuals will purchase in to make silicon-carbon batteries cheaper to supply, and thereby de facto for improved capability within the

iPhone 18
and

Galaxy S26
. I would get my want in any case, if I am fortunate — simply not as well timed as I might like.

You may additionally like

Will anyone use Tesla’s robotaxis when they come to Austin? Probably not

The corporate has a number of severe obstacles in its approach, even when the tech is ideal.