OnePlus had the battery hack to beat the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy all along. It was time to execute!

Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a rise in new battery tech that has made it possible to stick huge energy cells into smartphones, without inflating their size or weight any further. Forget about the 5,000 mAh golden standard, which has stuck around for a bit too long. Manufacturers are now comfortably pushing 6,000 mAh or, in the case of the OnePlus 15 — 7,300 mAh.

Whoa!

To be exact — we have been drooling over the specs of such phones, but rarely had the chance to see or use one. Why?

Phones in China are pushing past 6,000 mAh nowadays!

Well, said batteries can be found in the smartphones of Chinese manufacturers — brands that may sound a bit exotic in the west, but are well-established in the Asian markets. Like Vivo, Oppo, Xiaomi, to name some.

And yes, these particular large brands do ship their phones internationally and are even sold through carriers in Europe. But if they do launch their latest flagship internationally, we end up not getting the same huge battery that they come with in China.



Take, for example, the Vivo X300 Pro. When sold on its home turf or in Asian markets, it comes with a 6,510 mAh battery, while the recently-launched European model comes with a much smaller, 5,440 mAh cell.

And then, we’ve seen other manufacturers downgrade their batteries for certain markets — like the headache-inducing variations of the Honor Magic 8 Pro, which has a 7,200 mAh cell in China, 7,100 mAh for global markets, and 6,270 mAh in Europe.

Surprisingly, the reasons behind this are transport and import restrictions and regulations.

Is the new silicon battery tech the problem?

You may have heard that these new phones use the so-called “silicon anode” or “silicon-carbon” batteries that are potentially unstable, scary, and not very reliable.

Silicon batteries are technically not new. They were first introduced in 1976, but didn’t go into production for one simple reason — silicon expands up to 300% while charging.

As you can imagine, that’s not ideal. Certainly not for smartphones and their confined little spaces.

Over the past few decades, we’ve had graphite anode batteries instead, because the material is much more stable, reliable, long-lasting, and affordable.

But a silicon anode can store much more charge — up to 10 times the capacity of typical graphite tech (Cue Todd Howard “Sixteen times the detail!”), which is why it has always been “the dream”. And multiple, multiple technologies have been designed to “tame” it.



Thanks to the advancements in production lines, the material can be broken down and infused in complex matrixes, where the silicon atoms are “cushioned” between carbon atoms to absorb their extreme expansion. Further protection measures include coatings and structural bindings that — in short — don’t let the battery expand.

The end result? We now have commercial-grade silicon batteries that are supposedly, hopefully, going to stand the test of time (or at least 3 years as a nice minimum).

So, silicon batteries are OK?

There is a new European Product Registry for Energy Labeling from 2025, which grades batteries in electronic products on their efficiency and longevity.

It is there that we can see that the most recent smartphones with silicon batteries come with efficiency ratings A or B at the worst, and at least 1,000 charging cycles (up to 1,600 on the Xiaomi 15T Pro, or 1,100 according to OnePlus 15’s rating). No different to an iPhone 17.

So, while the first thought may be “the new silicon tech is the problem” — it’s not that. It’s about transport regulations.

Single cell and battery regulations — welcome to logistics hell

International standards about the shipping and handling of potentially hazardous materials have two clear limits — individual Li-Ion battery cells can not exceed 20 Wh, whole battery packs (multiple cells linked together) must be under 100 Wh.

Most smartphone batteries are single-cell, meaning they fall under the 20 Wh rule. They typically provide about 3.8 V for a smartphone. So, 20 Wh divided by 3.8 V equals roughly about 5,300 mAh, slightly shy of.

There are, technically, exceptions for “battery shipped within equipment”, which smartphone batteries do fall under. For example, the Redmi 15 has a huge 7,000 mAh, single-cell battery, yet it does sell in Europe with it, no “separate model”.

However, it seems that applying for and passing these exceptions may be a whole different story and a headache of its own. Not to mention that, when shipping to different markets worldwide, a manufacturer needs to consider the rules and limitations of various logistics services — land, air, sea, local couriers and post offices, etc. etc.

Therefore, it’s just simpler to make the single cells smaller and call it a day.

OnePlus has had the solution for years

One of the many things that OnePlus flagships are notable for is their fast — nay, super-fast — charging. The company started off with the Dash Charge, then evolved it to Warp Charge, and nowadays, OnePlus has stopped masquerading as a company that has nothing to do with Oppo and is just using the SuperVOOC branding to denote its fast-charging tech.

What we want to take a look at is Warp Charge 65, introduced with the OnePlus 8T in 2020. What’s special about is that it’s the first time we saw OnePlus split the battery into two cells, thus allowing them both to be juiced up in parallel, significantly reducing the time required to take the phone to full, and the stress on the batteries.

The equivalent of that generation is Oppo’s SuperVOOC 2.0 (65 W), which launched in late 2019.

Ever since then, OnePlus flagship phones have had the dual-cell design for the battery.

Fast-forward to today. The OnePlus 15 has a 7,300 mAh battery — that is almost 150% the capacity of a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s cell. And it ships and sells globally with that huge capacity, no questions asked.

Well, because it’s a two-cell design, the individual cells clearly fall under the 20 Wh limit. And the entire battery pack is also comfortably south of the 100 Wh limitation, so we are good on that!

While other manufacturers are probably working on solutions right now, as the production of these extra-large batteries is just ramping up, OnePlus had the solution built in. It wasn’t originally meant to simplify transportation and multi-market logistics, but it’s a lucky bonus.

Why don’t Apple and Samsung use silicon anode batteries?

There’s a multitude of reasons, safety concerns on top, of course.

While reports about modern Si/C batteries claim that they are safe thanks to the multitude of processes outlined above, giants like Apple and Samsung can’t just swap to the new and fresh tech. They ship millions and millions of phones each year, and can’t afford to have a fluke with new tech.

Plus, the supply lines for these millions and millions of phones that need to be produced are all pre-planned, arranged, and slow to turn around.

Reports that both manufacturers are looking at silicon anode batteries are definitely out there, and it goes to reason that they would be. But let’s face it — Samsung doesn’t want another Galaxy Note 7. And Apple is always slow, steady, and careful whenever incorporating new technology.

Even with all the safeties installed, it’s still up in the air whether silicon anode batteries will retain the same health and capacity after, say, three years compared to the reliable graphite batteries that we have now. The lab tests say they are fine. But real life always has an ace in its back pocket. This mass experiment is currently ongoing, and the statistics are pending.

Manufacturers like Vivo and Oppo may be huge, humongous in China, but their device output still allows for a little bit of agility. Plus, it helps that these new silicon batteries are being made in their own backyard. Which is why they can adopt the technology fast, and be confident that they can react to any changes fairly quickly.

For the rest of us… we’ll wait. (or get a OnePlus 15)

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