Bigger battery tipped for large Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 version
Smartwatches have definitely come a long way from their humble and clunky beginnings around a decade ago in terms of both overall functionality and mainstream appeal, but if there's still one big thing that the industry's top players need to collectively work on improving, that's probably the battery life aspect.
While companies like Garmin often advertise their newest wearable devices as capable of lasting weeks between charges rather than mere days or even forever (!!!) in ideal conditions, the world's two largest smartwatch vendors are unfortunately both in a very different boat.
Although we wouldn't expect this year's Galaxy Watch 5 and Apple Watch Series 8 to bring massive upgrades to the table in that absolutely crucial department, Samsung is almost certainly preparing an improvement users should be able to notice with relative ease out in the real world.
Just like its "regular" predecessor from 2021, the Galaxy Watch 5 is all but guaranteed to come in 40 and 44mm case sizes, the former of which was recently revealed as packing a 276mAh battery.
That represents a capacity increase of around 12 percent compared to the 247mAh cell inside the smaller version of the Galaxy Watch 4 and Watch 4 Classic, and now the 397mAh battery size of the larger Galaxy Watch 5 seems pretty much etched in stone as well.
If that number will indeed commercially materialize in the fall (or late summer), the 361mAh battery on the 44mm Galaxy Watch 4 is looking at a capacity bump of slightly less than 10 percent. By no means game-changing, such an upgrade should allow Samsung to continue to fend off arch-rival Apple from this particular standpoint.
While figures like these are not always directly comparable due to things like software optimizations and vastly different processors used by the two companies, the 45mm Apple Watch Series 7 currently comes with a 309mAh battery under its hood.
If history is any indication, that's unlikely to grow by much for the Series 8, which means "iFans" may have to continue settling for up to 18 hours of battery life (give or take) while Samsung is likely to offer just a little extra juice.
Alas, these battery specs are basically all we know about the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Classic, but that's bound to (gradually) change as August draws near.
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