Samsung Galaxy: New cell phone batteries with a step backwards in terms of longevity
Samsung is equipping its new folding smartphones with modern silicon-carbon batteries. This brings more capacity with a compact design, but there is a catch. The longevity of the batteries decreases significantly compared to their predecessors.
New battery with shorter lifespan
Samsung is equipping its newly launched foldables, the Galaxy Z Fold 8, the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip 8, not only with One UI 9, but also with new battery technology. The folding smartphones use silicon-carbon batteries for the first time, which allow for more capacity with the same size, but have a decisive disadvantage, as has now been officially confirmed. Silicon-carbon batteries are considered an important technical step towards providing thinner devices with more energy. Classic batteries use graphite in the anode. Silicon can theoretically absorb many times more lithium ions, which enables a significantly higher energy density. This allows the flat housings of current folding phones to be better utilized.
However, in contrast to pure lithium-ion batteries, cells with a high silicon content tend to age chemically more quickly. They also expand more during charging processes. To minimize case damage and safety risks, manufacturers must compromise on the maximum number of charging cycles. This now also affects the new Samsung models.
Official data proves downgrade
As named from the European Union’s official energy label database EPREL As can be seen, the batteries in the new folding smartphones manage 1200 charging cycles before the usable capacity drops to 80 percent. This is significantly less than the previous models. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 and the Galaxy Z Flip 7 still offered 2,000 guaranteed cycles, a full 66 percent more.
For end users, the value of 1200 cycles means a guaranteed peak performance of just over three years with daily charging and discharging. Samsung is trying to compensate for the physical disadvantage of the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra by installing a larger battery. However, the nominal capacity of the more compact Galaxy Z Flip 8 remains unchanged.
Comparison with the competition
Despite the significant decline in charging cycles, the South Korean manufacturer is still doing well compared to the industry. Many current smartphones from competitors such as Apple or Google often only guarantee 1000 charging cycles before the capacity drops to 80 percent. In addition, due to the longer overall device running time, the overall rating of the batteries improves from grade “B” to grade “A” compared to the predecessors. However, if you want to use your foldable for many years, you might still notice the reduced lifespan.
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