Samsung Galaxy phones are reportedly finally getting silicon-carbon batteries with larger capacities

A monumental shift is underway, according to a new report, which alleges that Samsung is finally adopting silicon-carbon batteries on its phones. The just-released Galaxy S26 Ultra continues a seven-year tradition of shipping with a 5,000 mAh battery, which we first saw on the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

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Silicon-carbon batteries on Galaxy phones

According to the report (translated source), Samsung has admitted that it is lagging behind when it comes to smartphone batteries. As such, Galaxy S-series phones will be equipped with silicon-carbon batteries “soon”.

Moon Seong-hun — Executive Vice President and head of the smartphone R&D team at Samsung — made the remark at the Galaxy Unpacked event this month. Apparently, he acknowledged that the company might be somewhat behind when it comes to battery innovation.

Also according to the report, there is already a smartphone currently being developed with a silicon-carbon battery. Apparently, Samsung wants to take strict measures to ensure that its adoption of silicon-carbon batteries is more than just adequate. Whatever model this is, however, is expected to come out sooner rather than later.

Lastly, the expected battery capacity increase for all models of future Galaxy S lineups — the base model, the Plus, and the Ultra — is in the triple digits. Which means that all models will likely see a bump in battery capacity by a few hundred mAh.

How this will improve Samsung’s phones

Many Chinese phone makers started using silicon-carbon batteries a long time ago, leaving Samsung, Apple, and Google far behind. We have budget smartphones with battery capacities of 8,000 mAh and higher, and multiple phones with battery capacities larger than 10,000 mAh are in the works. In fact, there already is a smartphone with a 10,000 mAh battery on the market.

Silicon-carbon batteries are denser than traditional Li-ion batteries and can pack more juice in the same amount of space as their Li-ion counterparts. It’s not like Samsung couldn’t have used other means to skirt around U.S. regulations and provide consumers with bigger batteries. After all, the Galaxy Z TriFold has a 5,600 mAh battery even in the States, but this makes it even easier.

It seems like the Galaxy S26 series might have gotten the short end of the stick and the Galaxy S27 lineup next year will finally break past the 5,000 mAh barrier. Sure, upgrades happen each year, but this is one that Samsung fans have been waiting on for a long time.

I have some concerns

This is definitely cause for celebration, as hopefully this will mean that Samsung, Apple, and Google will all start using silicon-carbon batteries. And even if the first models with these batteries don’t see huge increases in battery capacity, that doesn’t necessarily mean that that trend will continue.

However, the report only mentions the S-series phones, so maybe the Galaxy S27 series will get silicon-carbon batteries next year. That’s not exactly “soon” as the report had suggested. It seems that A-series phones and even the flagship foldables will keep using Li-ion batteries.

Furthermore, I’m cautious about Samsung’s implementation. The company is obsessed with slimming its phones down each generation, to the point where it actually brought back the rear camera island to the Galaxy S26 Ultra so that it could fit the new aperture into a slimmer chassis.

There is a not-so-insignificant chance that Samsung might use silicon-carbon batteries just so that it can keep slimming down its phones while retaining the 5,000 mAh capacity. Current Galaxy phones are pushing the limits of Li-ion batteries and this might be Samsung’s out.

Lastly, this news kind of makes the new Galaxy S26 phones a little pointless, don’t you think? The privacy display is awesome, but a lot more Samsung fans have been asking for a bigger battery than a special new screen.

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