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

I’ve at all times supported the thought 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 income concerned. A completely built-in one typically permits a telephone to be extra compact, or tackle new and weird type elements. By extension, this may additionally improve energy effectivity, since different parts will be positioned and sized extra optimally.

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

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

Galaxy S25 Ultra
and

iPhone 16 Pro Max
, respectively. In reality, given studies about Apple and Samsung’s upcoming ultra-slim telephones, it appears like it will be as much as corporations like OnePlus to point out the majors the right way to do batteries appropriately.

What are Apple and Samsung doing unsuitable, precisely?

Type over operate

I’ve touched on this just lately, 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 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 via 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 probably utilizing silicon-carbon battery expertise, a current 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 vitality density — so that you’d suppose 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 might say — with out a case, some telephones will be so skinny and slippery that they are exhausting to grip securely. Even my spouse’s OnePlus 9 5G has that subject. Just a few 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 exhausting to know 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 should 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 units may final a number of days on a cost, it is taken as a right now that you could cost a telephone every single day. Usually, twice per day is the sensible actuality.

As an experiment, I just lately 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 Mates. Apple claims that the telephone needs to 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 each day situations, 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 on 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 embrace telephone charging of their checklist of priorities. Nobody needs to be panicking about their telephone operating low concurrently they’re making an attempt to flee a hurricane or earthquake.

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

In that respect, I am inquisitive about how Apple and Samsung’s ultra-slim telephones are going to promote. I doubt they will be outright failures, for the reason that corporations have a whole lot of promoting would possibly, and so they’ve presumably carried out some primary 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 provide a dramatic profit in change. And as I’ve hopefully established, thinness can truly be a detriment as of late.

I believe the best-case situation is that Apple and Samsung are conscious of this, however hope that sufficient folks 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’d get my want in spite of everything, if I am fortunate — simply not as well timed as I might like.

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