Samsung finally caves in to silicon-carbon batteries with the Galaxy Z Fold 8

After years of stubbornly avoiding it, Samsung is finally embracing the most modern battery technology on its latest smartphones. The company has officially confirmed the Galaxy Z Fold 8, Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, and Galaxy Z Flip 8, though that may not mean what you expect.

Silicon-carbon batteries, done the Samsung way

Samsung is officially adopting silicon-carbon batteries on its latest foldables, even though their specs may not suggest it. Unlike Chinese phones, such as the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, Honor Magic V6, and Motorola Razr Fold, the new Galaxy Z devices come with relatively moderate battery capacities.

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The reason is Samsung’s priorities with the new technology. In the Galaxy Unpacked keynote today, the company said its focus was to “ensure it’s safe and reliable to use over time.” 

Translating that to simpler terms, Samsung wants the battery to perform well and keep its maximum capacity as high as possible over time. Probably the key part for the company is the safety, given the traumatic experiences from the Galaxy Note 7 debacle a decade ago.

You can still notice the difference

The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra has a thinner body than the Galaxy Z Fold 7, but it comes with a 5,000 mAh battery, compared to last year’s 4,400 mAh. Then the wide Galaxy Z Fold 8 comes with a noticeably smaller chassis, but still packs a 4,800 mAh battery.

While that’s nowhere close to the 6,000 mAh battery of the Razr Fold or the 6,660 mAh cell inside the Magic V6, it’s a massive upgrade for Samsung. This improvement is only made possible because of the silicon-carbon diode used in the new phones.

Another welcome improvement is the faster charging on the Fold 8 and Fold 8 Ultra. They both support 45W wired charging and 20W wireless charging.

High hopes for future phones

As exciting as getting a silicon-carbon battery on a foldable may be, I’m way more pumped about the potential upgrades to the Galaxy S27 devices. Once Samsung makes the move with its flagships, I’m sure it won’t take long before we see Apple and Google following.

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