This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
What's up, fellow flagship users? | Image by PhoneArena
Samsung, Apple and Google are notoriously stingy when it comes to battery capacities. Sure: iPhones, Galaxies and Pixels have some remarkable software tricks up their sleeves these days to keep the lights on for longer.
Plus, flagships always come with high-end chipsets, which are constantly getting better in terms of efficiency.
But… seven years with the same 5,000 mAh capacity cell in the Galaxy S Ultra models (yes, including the Galaxy S26 Ultra)?!
These batteries may be small, but they also charge slowly
A Galaxy S25 FE unit has reportedly gone up in flames out of the blue while charging. | Image by PhoneArena
To make things worse, none of these flagships comes with blazing-fast charging speeds. If one wants to enjoy such charging speeds, one has to turn their back on Samsung, Apple and Google and get the next ticket to Beijing, metaphorically speaking.
It's Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Huawei, OnePlus and the rest of the gang that allow you to charge your phone superfast.
Recommended For You
The practical aspect of being able to top up in 25–30 minutes aside – I'm not talking about pragmatism. Dare I say, I'm talking about your life.
My phone allows me to go to bed unwired
The Find X7 Ultra is my daily driver. | Image by PhoneArena
I'm rocking the Oppo Find X7 Ultra and its 100W charging speeds allow me to go from 0 to 100% in no time. If I've been exploring the streets throughout the day, taking hundreds (and even thousands) of photos, I get back home and I plug it in.
By the time I'm done with the quick shower, I have enough power to last me throughout the evening and the night. The next day I plug it back in to top it back up to 100% while I'm taking the morning shower.
This is precisely what keeps me safe from such horror situations, like the one I told you about yesterday:
I love gadgets, but I don't fully trust them. I understand how cool it is to wake up to a 100%-charged phone, but I'm a strong advocate against leaving your phone plugged in all night long. Especially leaving it on your bed or nightstand.
That's why for me, the 100W charging speeds are essential and I won't give them up.
The OnePlus 15 has a big battery that charges fast. | Image by PhoneArena
Yes, accidents can occur and nobody is 100% safe. But I, personally, prefer to deal with an exploding phone while I'm awake and not in the middle of the night. Smoke can creep up on you like that.
Beyond charging speeds, I'm also quite unimpressed with what Samsung, Apple and Google have been doing with their flagships in terms of sheer battery capacity.
How bad is it?
The Galaxy S26 received a battery boost, but nothing to write home about. | Image by PhoneArena
I'm fully aware that the Galaxy S26 Ultra can keep the lights on for quite longer periods of time than the Galaxy S20 Ultra, despite that both have a 5,000 mAh cell inside:
That's two extra hours of screen time on average. Great, but that's the opposite of innovation. Samsung is supposed to lead ahead.
Apple is not excused as well:
The 2020 iPhone 12 Pro came with a 2,815 mAh battery and 5 hours of average screen time. Six years later, the new 4,252 mAh cell in the iPhone 17 Pro will last you 6 hours and 40 minutes. That's an improvement of ~16 minutes of extra screen time per year.
Meanwhile, the Honor Magic 8 Lite – a device with a 7,500 mAh battery – will last you (on average) almost 11 and a half hours.
Which means that Samsung flagships will catch up with the 2025 Honor Magic 8 Lite in 13–14 years – around the year 2039–2040. It'll take over 17 years for Apple (around the year 2043) to release the eleven-and-a-half-hours-phone.
That's if current trends continue in the near future. Let's hope they don't.
Get Visible as low as $20/mo for 1 year. Limited time offer with code: FRESHSTART
$20
/mo
$25
$5 off (20%)
Offer Ends 6.1.2026 at 11.59pm ET. New members get $5/mo off the $25/mg Visible plan, $35/mo Visible+ plan, or $45/mo Visible+ Pro plan for the first 12 months. Promo code FRESHSTART required at checkout.
Sebastian is one of PhoneArena’s senior opinionators. A veteran news writer with almost 20 years of experience in media and technology, he not only covers all the hot news about Galaxies and iPhones, but often provides hot takes on industry trends. He’s fascinated with camera-focused flagships from the likes of Oppo and Vivo, as well as foldable phones.
A discussion is a place, where people can voice their opinion, no matter if it
is positive, neutral or negative. However, when posting, one must stay true to the topic, and not just share some
random thoughts, which are not directly related to the matter.
Things that are NOT allowed:
Off-topic talk - you must stick to the subject of discussion
Offensive, hate speech - if you want to say something, say it politely
Spam/Advertisements - these posts are deleted
Multiple accounts - one person can have only one account
Impersonations and offensive nicknames - these accounts get banned
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts:
New accounts created within the last 24 hours may experience restrictions on how frequently they can
post or comment.
These limits are in place as a precaution and will automatically lift.
Moderation is done by humans. We try to be as objective as possible and moderate with zero bias. If you think a
post should be moderated - please, report it.
Have a question about the rules or why you have been moderated/limited/banned? Please,
contact us.
Things that are NOT allowed:
To help keep our community safe and free from spam, we apply temporary limits to newly created accounts: