OnePlus’ gigantic rumored battery exhibits w...

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 typically permits a telephone to be extra compact, or tackle new and strange kind components. By extension, this will additionally improve energy effectivity, since different elements might be positioned and sized extra optimally.

A main instance of this can be a mysterious, upcoming OnePlus gadget, 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 might completely smoke the 5,000 and 4,685mAH batteries within the

Galaxy S25 Ultra
and

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

What are Apple and Samsung doing flawed, precisely?

Type over operate

I’ve touched on this not too long ago, so I will not go into the total particulars, however the quick model is that Apple’s rumored

iPhone 17 Air
and Samsung’s teased

Galaxy S25 Edge
are every anticipated to sacrifice battery life to realize 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 way of 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 current improve of the lithium-ion batteries we see in all the pieces from smartphones to

electric cars
and PEVs (private electrical automobiles). The key profit is improved power density — so that you’d assume that at a minimal, telephone makers would maintain the road on battery life, merely shrinking their telephones slightly.

As an alternative, Apple and Samsung appear to be prioritizing thinness in any respect prices, for causes that are not completely clear past aesthetics and bragging rights. It has been years since I’ve heard anybody complain about how thick a telephone is, if not a decade or extra. Complaints have trended in the other way, I would say — with out a case, some telephones might be so skinny and slippery that they are arduous 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 could bend or snap.

My finest guess is that the businesses are attempting 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 arduous 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 telephone launched in April 2025 — one thing coming in Could or later must be in the identical ballpark.

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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 with no consideration now that you must cost a telephone daily. Usually, twice per day is the sensible actuality.

As an experiment, I not too long ago prevented topping up my iPhone 16 Professional in any respect till bedtime. The end result was that after roughly 16 hours, my telephone was right 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 telephone 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 won’t have the ability to deal with the iPhone 17 Air beneath every 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 have been a luxurious for wealthy professionals — many people depend 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, folks rely on smartphones for survival, to the purpose that catastrophe reduction businesses typically embody telephone charging of their record of priorities. Nobody must be panicking about their telephone working low similtaneously they’re attempting to flee a hurricane or earthquake.

I am glad, then, that at the very least one firm is making the most of silicon-carbon to do what must be an apparent factor. Typically revenue margins have to take a backseat, if not for charitable causes, then simply to fulfill genuine buyer demand and preserve folks loyal. Somebody whose telephone 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’re going to be outright failures, because the firms have plenty of promoting may, they usually’ve presumably carried out some fundamental market analysis. However I additionally doubt that the merchandise will probably be runaway hits — charging a premium for sub-par battery life is a recipe for weak gross sales until you supply a dramatic profit in alternate. And as I’ve hopefully established, thinness can truly be a detriment as of late.

I feel the best-case state of affairs is that Apple and Samsung are conscious of this, however hope that sufficient folks will purchase in to make silicon-carbon batteries cheaper to provide, 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 would like.

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