This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
For generations, Samsung has condemned the Galaxy flagships to being stuck to a particular limitation. At first, it was quite acceptable, but it began to overstay its welcome as the years went by, and the company’s newer phones refused to upgrade. Be it regulatory limitations or something else, Samsung was falling behind.
Flagship phones from Chinese competitors overtook it, marginally at first, then exponentially. Samsung had been beaten in one of the most important aspects of a modern smartphone. I am, of course, talking about the battery.
So, imagine my glee and then subsequent sigh of disappointment, when I found out that Samsung was finally upgrading the battery for the Galaxy S26 Ultra, but only just. Just enough to still be ahead of Apple.
Only technically, though. I doubt there’d be any real difference in screen-on time.
Better battery on the Galaxy S26 Ultra
Galaxy S25 Ultra kept the 5,000 mAh battery. | Image credit — PhoneArena
Yes, it’s apparently finally happening. According to a very new leak, the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s battery might be seeing the slightest of upgrades next year. After generations of Ultra phones sporting a 5,000 mAh battery, we’re allegedly going to see an Ultra phone with…wait for it…a 5,200 mAh battery instead.
Yep. That’s it. This is the upgrade we have waited generations for.
To be fair, there are some other upgrades too
Okay, the 5,200 mAh battery doesn’t sound like much — and it isn’t — but it’s not the only upgrade for the Galaxy S26 Ultra in this department. The phone will also feature 60W wired fast charging, up from 45W, and 25W wireless charging, up from 15W. So, if nothing else, you’ll be able to start using your phone sooner after running out of charge.
But don’t these upgrades sound a little too minor? With Chinese phone manufacturers pushing battery capacities of 10,000 mAh using silicon-carbon technology, what’s the point of an extra 200 mAh?
There’s only one point, really: bragging rights.
Samsung beats Apple, just
iPhone 17 Pro Max reached Samsung’s battery capacity. | Image credit — PhoneArena
Apple has caught up to Samsung, at least with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. RAM, storage, processing speeds, and yes, the battery capacity.
To me, it seems like Samsung will be doing the bare minimum to be able to still say that its phones are better than Apple’s. We’ve waited so many years to see the batteries on Galaxy phones cross the 5,000 mAh mark, but this just isn’t it.
Do you think Samsung is doing the bare minimum?
Yes
87.1%
No
12.9%
Unsure
0%
My predictions for future upgrades
Expect a variable aperture on Galaxy phones soon. | Image credit — PhoneArena
So, if Samsung is only doing what Apple is doing, that should make it easy to predict what it will do in the near future, right? Perhaps. I’m not saying that Samsung does nothing new — it still makes superb Android phones, after all — but here are some predictions for future Galaxy phones.
The iPhone 18 is apparently getting a camera with a variable aperture, so I predict that the Galaxy phone after that — the Galaxy S27 — will get one too. Galaxy S26 Ultra is already getting a wider aperture, hence the reintroduced rear camera island, but the iPhone 18 is taking it a step further. Samsung won’t want to be left behind.
Meanwhile, the 20th anniversary iPhone Pro will reportedly feature a display free of any cutouts at all. The Face ID sensors and the front camera will be moved under the display, so I expect Samsung to do the same. Possibly the same year, months before the iPhone 18 does.
The foldable iPhone, on the other hand, is apparently going to feature a much larger battery than the Galaxy Z Fold 7. Hence, I think that it’s safe to say that the Galaxy Z Fold 8 will have a battery equal, or larger, than the battery on the foldable iPhone. If the iPhone Air makes a comeback, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if the Galaxy Edge models came back too.
I’m not mad about the innovation. In fact, I’m so happy that we’re finally seeing these phone companies focus on batteries instead of just cameras and thickness. But the 200 mAh jump is, frankly speaking, very disappointing.
And it’s sad that I have to hope for Apple to innovate so that we get a better Galaxy phone in response. Because if Samsung keeps following Apple’s footsteps, it’s not all good things. Remember the removal of the headphone jack? Or the charging brick from the box?
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Abdullah loves smartphones, Virtual Reality, and audio gear. Though he covers a wide range of news his favorite is always when he gets to talk about the newest VR venture or when Apple sets the industry ablaze with another phenomenal release.
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