Why Apple and Samsung should start taking big batteries seriously

Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max packs a 4,441mAh battery. Samsung’s Galaxy S25 Ultra offers a slightly larger 5,000mAh cell. These numbers haven’t changed significantly over the past three years, even as smartphone power demands have increased with features like 4K video recording, on-device AI processing, and ultra-bright 120Hz displays.

And that shows in real-world endurance. According to DXOMARK’s battery ratings, iPhone 15 Pro Max sits in 44th position, while Galaxy S24 Ultra ranks in 63rd position in global battery rating. 

The top ten of the list is largely dominated by devices from Chinese brands like Honor Magic 7 Lite, Motorola Edge 60 Pro, and Oppo Find X7 Ultra.

It could be because of the design. Both companies prize a thin, premium aesthetic. Apple, especially, sees tight tolerances and clean chassis lines as central to its brand identity. That philosophy leaves little room for thermal headroom or larger cells. Even when iPhones gained weight with titanium and larger camera modules, the extra space went to optics, not battery.

Samsung, while marginally more flexible, still caps its flagships at 5,000mAh—a limit reached by many Android phones as early as 2020.

There’s also a conservative approach to new materials. Neither Apple nor Samsung has embraced silicon-carbon batteries. These batteries, which replace graphite with silicon in the anode, offer:

• Up to 20% higher energy density
• Better thermal performance
• Faster charging without increased degradation
• More cycles before capacity loss

Chinese brands are already deploying them. For instance, the Nubia RedMagic 10 Pro has a battery capacity of 7,050 mAh while retaining the same thickness as its predecessor. Apple and Samsung, meanwhile, are still using variations of the same chemistry introduced over a decade ago.

To be honest, users are used to carrying thicker and heavier phones now.  Take the recent flagships. iPhone 16 Pro Max is 8.3mm thick and weighs 227g. Galaxy S25 Ultra measures and weighs 8.6mm and weighs 232g, respectively

So a few millimeters of extra thickness in 2025 isn’t a deal-breaker. But even so, brands don’t necessarily need to bulk up their phones, thanks to silicon-carbon batteries. These allow manufacturers to keep a slim profile while packing in more mAh within the same form factor. As a result, compact phones are making a comeback in 2025, and for good reason.

Apple and Samsung have leaned heavily on efficiency gains. Apple’s A17 Pro chip is built on TSMC’s 3nm node. Samsung uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy, arguably the most efficient flagship chip Qualcomm has ever made. Both companies also implement dynamic refresh rate scaling (LTPO), RAM management, and app background restrictions.

But we’re reaching a plateau. Shrinking nodes no longer yield the 30% efficiency gains they once did. And with on-device AI, like Samsung’s Galaxy AI and Apple’s rumored Siri 2.0, set to increase background processing, power savings may be offset by new demands.

In other words, software and silicon efficiency aren’t enough anymore. Bigger batteries are the obvious next step.

You can’t talk about batteries without mentioning fast charging, as they go hand in hand. Not that Apple or Samsung are leading the pack here. Their charging speeds are still underwhelming. 

But to be honest, fast charging doesn’t really solve battery anxiety. It just makes it slightly less painful. Unfortunately, both Apple and Samsung lag behind even mid-range competitors in this area.

Silicon-carbon batteries, meanwhile, support faster charging with significantly less degradation. It directly addresses the concerns that have supposedly kept Apple from increasing charging wattages. Yet neither company seems eager to adopt these new chemtries.

In 2025, our phones do more than ever. 24/7 notifications, 4K video recording and editing, video calling, and constant location tracking for wearables, and Find My networks.

Apple and Samsung expect their users to rely on these devices all day, yet the power infrastructure hasn’t kept pace. Power users are either buying battery cases, carrying 10,000mAh power banks, or switching to Chinese OEMs that actually prioritize longevity.

So it’s not just about specs for these foreign brands, it’s about relevancy now.

Adopting bigger batteries doesn’t require sacrificing quality or user experience. It’s about aligning with modern usage patterns, embracing available technology, and doing what users have been asking for.

Apple and Samsung could start small: integrate 5,500mAh batteries in their ultra models, or trial silicon-carbon in a foldable where battery life is most constrained. Even a modest upgrade would send a message that they are improving on this domain as well