The Samsung Galaxy S11+ battery has leaked and it's massive

As spotted by the folks over at GalaxyClub, the battery that's destined to make its way inside the Samsung Galaxy S11+ was recently certified by South Korea's SafetyKorea certification agency under the model number EB-BG988ABY. A photo of the cell is attached to the listing and, to our delight, it reveals the capacity – an incredibly 5,000mAh. 

This number means the Galaxy S11+ is going to include the highest battery capacity ever included in a premium Samsung-branded phone. That title is currently held by the Galaxy S10 5G, which features a huge 4,500mAh cell, although the Galaxy Note 10+ and Galaxy S10+ don't fall far behind with 4,300mAh and 4,100mAh cells respectively. 

To further put the upcoming advancement into perspective, just two years ago the Galaxy S9+ debuted with a tiny 3,500mAh battery which was considered decent at the time. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact Samsung has only produced four phones with equivalent or larger battery capacities in its history.

Although yet to be confirmed, the massive battery destined for the Galaxy S11+ is probably going to support Samsung's 45W fast charging technology which debuted on the Galaxy Note 10+. Additionally, support for fast wireless charging is to be expected alongside reverse wireless charging, a feature that'll let you charge your Galaxy Buds or any other wireless earphones with a compatible charging case by placing them on the back of the phone. 

A ginormous 5,000mAh cell inside the Galaxy S10+ would undoubtedly result in unbeatable battery life for the flagship, but with the Galaxy S11+ that might not necessarily be the case. The multiple power-hungry features that are planned for the next-generation smartphone are the reason for this.

Perhaps the upgrade that'll impact battery life the most is the new display. Samsung is reportedly planning a huge 0.5-inch size increase that'll take it from a manageable 6.4-inches to a massive 6.9-inches. This will apparently be combined with a very impressive and incredibly smooth 120Hz refresh rate on the Infinity-O panel. The South Korean giant has so far stuck to a standard 60Hz refresh rate on its phones but is hoping to overtake the likes of OnePlus and Google by going straight to 120Hz next year, therefore resulting in a considerable amount of extra battery drain.

Another impacting factor will be the presence of 5G network support as standard. Samsung's expected to utilize Qualcomm's newly announced Snapdragon 865 in the United States, a chipset that is coupled with the Snapdragon X55 modem, and its own Exynos 990 processor coupled with a 5G modem elsewhere. Despite the improvements that have been made over the first-generation efforts so far this year, 5G modems are still very much in their infancy and require a significant amount of extra power.

On the bright side of things, Samsung's next-generation flagship is expected to ship with Android 10 and One UI 2.0 straight out of the box. This operating system is a bit more efficient than the Android 9 Pie-based One UI experience it introduced  with the Galaxy S10 lineup of phones. Also worth mentioning is the improved efficiency of the Snapdragon 865 and Exynos 990 chipsets without taking into account their respective modems.