In fact, even Apple has taken note, despite being relatively behind for years. With the iPhone 17 lineup, the company caught up to Samsung in terms of battery capacity, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max may see it go even further ahead. While that’s good for Apple, and it may further cement its leading position, it raises questions about Samsung’s strategy and future.
Why does Samsung appear stuck?
One of the most consistent facts about smartphones is that people want them to have better batteries. Regardless of how long it lasts without charging, everyone seems to want their phone to have a battery that lasts longer.Everyone and their grandma already knows that Samsung has been using the same 5,000 mAh batteries on its top-tier flagships for years. In fact, we’ve joked that the battery capacity of the Galaxy S Ultra is as certain as death and taxes. That wouldn’t be so damning if it weren’t for the competition.
When the Galaxy S20 Ultra arrived with a 5,000 mAh battery, it was among the leading phones in terms of battery capacity. Over the following years, that capacity continued being relevant, but by 2025 it was seen more as a bare minimum than a market-leading spec.
While Samsung kept resting on its laurels, most Chinese companies quickly moved forward with new battery technology. In the last few years, brands like OnePlus, Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi, and Honor have breached the 6,000 and even 7,000 mAh barrier on normal-sized phones. Using silicon-carbon batteries, those companies never stopped pushing the boundaries.
Apple is just as far from those limits as Samsung, but the batteries in its iPhone Pro Max phones kept growing. It took them years to catch up with Samsung, which is probably the best proof of how far ahead the Korean company was six years ago. However, now even Apple is reportedly exploring a cutting-edge battery technology that could change how long the iPhone 18 and iPhone Fold last.That’s where Samsung starts looking stuck. Its phones are not bad, and nobody could ever say that the Galaxy S25 Ultra has an issue with its battery life. However, the series has turned from a showcase of the latest and greatest in mobile technology to a mere reiteration of years-old concepts, which were so forward-looking that they continue delivering great results in 2026.
It’s more than the capacity
If we have to be fair, the battery capacity is a poor measure of how long a phone lasts. Samsung hasn’t changed the battery capacity of its phones, but the performance still kept improving. From the Galaxy S20 Ultra lasting a little under 6 hours to the 8 hours of expected battery life on the Galaxy S25 Ultra, things have become better thanks to the more advanced and efficient hardware of the phones.Those improvements weren’t unique to Samsung, and all brands utilize more efficient components. Efficiency is what allowed Apple to feature much smaller batteries but offer similar or even better battery life than Samsung’s leading phones over the years. But that’s far from enough.
There’s a difference of appearance between Apple and Samsung. Apple never cared about the specs of its phones that much, as long as they delivered the required performance. That hasn’t changed, and the folks at Cupertino are willing to add to or take away from the specs of the iPhone to achieve their goals.
Samsung, on the other hand, was considered the brand that was pushing every boundary, no matter what. That’s now gone, and the company appears content with delivering devices that are good enough, but nothing more. The wild tech experiments are mostly left to the leading Chinese brands, and Samsung has switched from an unquestionable leader to a follower.
Is that the new Samsung?
One truth that’s rarely spoken out loudly is that giant batteries don’t necessarily lead to extremely long battery life. While we’re already seeing giant batteries, very few of them provide the expected battery life improvements. Maybe the OnePlus 15, with its 7,300 mAh battery, is the first model where the capacity growth is similar to the performance growth.Probably that’s why measuring the battery performance is one of the greatest challenges faced by smartphone reviewers. Samsung appears to struggle with the technological aspect of its batteries, but the user experience is still great. You could say that Apple has hardly used leading technology in its iPhones since 2007, and I’m not talking only about batteries. Despite that, the whole industry sees the iPhone user experience as the example to look up to.
At the end of the day, very few people care whether the battery is large or small and what kind of technology it uses if it works well. Samsung has been delivering on those expectations, and that appears to be more than enough for the company. As disappointing as that is for the specs fans, the Samsung that was doing everything to stay firmly ahead of any competition may be long gone. It appears that now is the time of a new Samsung. A company that feels happy to deliver years-old technology as long as it’s good enough.
