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Galaxy Z Fold 8 could get a wireless charging boost – but will it be enough to compete?

This would be the first wireless charging upgrade since the Galaxy Z Fold 4.

Fold 8 on the left and Fold 8 Ultra on the right.
Fold 8 on the left and Fold 8 Ultra on the right. | Image by Bizarre Red Oil Party on Weibo
As we get closer to the upcoming Galaxy Unpacked event, more and more details about the Samsung foldables have started to emerge from different sources. It was recently reported that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra could launch with an anti-reflective coating. Now, a new leak suggests that the device could offer a faster wireless charging speed.

Finally, an upgrade


Battery and charging are two departments that Samsung rarely touches in its smartphones. It is evident from the fact that the wireless charging speed of the foldables hasn't been increased since the release of the Galaxy Z Fold 4. For reference, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 offered wireless charging of up to 11W, and the speed was increased to 15W in its successor.

Samsung then continued to offer the same 15W wireless charging capacity in all the foldables released since then, which include the Galaxy Z Fold 5, Galaxy Z Fold 6, and Galaxy Z Fold 7. Fortunately, after almost four years since it was last upgraded, the tech giant could finally once again give a boost to its foldables' wireless charging speed by increasing it from 15W to 20W, according to leaker Lanzuk.

Small but much-needed change



Even with the new figure, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra would still be miles behind their Chinese competitors. For instance, both the Oppo Find N6 and the Motorola Razr Fold are compatible with 50W wireless charging. The Honor Magic V6 and the Vivo X Fold 5 support 66W and 40W wireless charging, respectively.

Furthermore, the Fold 8 models are expected to see a jump in their battery capacity. The Fold 8 is reported to have a 4800 mAh battery, which is 400 mAh bigger than that of its predecessor, and the Fold 8 Ultra could launch with a 5000 mAh cell, which is similar to what you get in the Galaxy S26 Ultra. So, it might be possible that the boost of 5W wireless charging speed may simply offset the increased cell capacity.

As a result, you might not notice any improvement in the charging speed compared to the previous model. But that's what I think. We will definitely try to share more details about it in our in-depth review of the upcoming Samsung foldables.

What's the one upgrade you'd most like to see in the Galaxy Z Fold 8?
51 Votes

Samsung really needs to work in the battery department


It's high time that the top two brands, Samsung and Apple, started focusing on the battery and charging departments. The upcoming foldables from both manufacturers are reported to have a battery capacity of not more than 5,000 mAh. This is a very mediocre number, especially considering the price at which these phones could launch, and also when you compare it with the numbers of their Chinese competitors like the Honor Magic V6, which comes equipped with a 6,600 mAh Si-C cell.

And as mentioned above, the charging speed is definitely seeing a boost, but it would still be way behind the competition. In our in-house testing as well, the Galaxy Z Fold 7 lost the charging competition to devices like the Oppo Find N5. Online forums like Reddit are also filled with posts from users complaining about the slow charging of the Samsung foldable.

Any upgrade is welcomed


The increase of 5W is definitely very small, but I would definitely appreciate Samsung for doing this. However, I'm still unclear whether the tech giant would offer support for magnetic charging.

A few mockups of what is believed to be the upcoming Samsung foldables do suggest that we could actually see magnets at the back of both devices, but no reliable tipster like Ice Universe has shared any details about it or confirmed this upgrade. But thankfully we won't have to wait much longer to get details, as both the foldables along with the Galaxy Z Flip 8 would be unveiled at the Galaxy Unpacked event on 22nd July.
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