The Galaxy S27 Ultra monster battery upgrade is cancelled, here are the latest numbers

The Galaxy S27 Ultra is supposed to come with a bigger battery (in terms of capacity, not physical size). Rumors on the subject go in all directions and for a device that's half a year away, that's normal.

But while earlier leaks spoke of a 6,000 mAh or even almost 7,000 mAh battery capacity for the Galaxy S27 Ultra, reality now kicks in to rain down on our sunny July.

Take it with a grain of salt

Here is the latest leak, courtesy of the X account @phonefuturist. Per their information, Samsung is currently testing two batteries (5,600 mAh or 5,800 mAh) for the Galaxy S27 Ultra:



These claims don't fly with Ice Universe, a popular and highly credible leaker who has this to say:

"There is currently no reliable evidence or credible information suggesting that the Galaxy S27 Ultra will feature a 5,500mAh battery", Ice Universe says. Note that they expect the Galaxy S27 Ultra not to surpass the 5,500 mAh threshold, so hoping for 5,800 mAh would be unrealistic.

Breaking the spell

Personally, I love to experiment with flagships (folding and non-folding alike) beyond the Apple–Samsung–Google triumvirate. Besides their fantastic cameras, I love their battery game, as they've left behind the 5,000 mAh cell long ago.

Having said that, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is among the finest Android flagships one can get today. Sure, its $1,300 starting price is no fun, nor are the reports about its degraded visual experience (which isn't that big of a deal to many of us).

However, my main concern has to do with the Galaxy S26 Ultra's battery. It's the same capacity we've been getting for seven years straight (!), starting with the 5,000 mAh cell on the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

The S26 Ultra takes advantage of lots of software optimizations and that efficient chipset (the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy) surely helps. But in the end, the Galaxy S26 Ultra offers about two hours less of battery life compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max in our real-life tests.

In short, Samsung has to move past the 5,000 mAh regardless of how it feels about it.

What's the final number?

The doomers among us predicted something in the likes of a 5,200 mAh capacity for the S27 Ultra, but I'd like to keep it a bit more positive.

While a ~600 mAh boost is not nearly enough and I'd like to see Samsung's next Ultra rock a 7,000 mAh silicon-carbon cell, one has to be realistic.

This is Samsung we're dealing with and Samsung doesn't leap too far ahead every 12 months. It takes incremental steps. So maybe Ice Universe is correct and we won't get an Ultra flagship by Samsung with a battery capacity over 5,500 mAh.

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