A Chinese smartphone maker is reportedly testing steel-cased batteries paired with stacked-cell technology

Something quiet but pretty interesting is happening in the smartphone world. A design approach Apple started using recently might help Android makers shove way bigger batteries into their flagships.

According to well-known Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station, a major Chinese smartphone brand is already testing steel-cased batteries paired with stacked-cell construction. The idea basically takes what Apple has been doing and pushes it further.

Apple first put an aluminum shell around the battery in the iPhone 16 Pro. The rigid metal case gives the battery more structural strength. Apple’s kept refining it, and the iPhone 18 Pro Max (at least the versions with a physical SIM tray) is expected to hit 5,391mAh, about a 12% bump over the last generation.

Chinese companies look ready to go bigger. They’re swapping aluminum for steel and combining it with stacked cells instead of the usual wound “jelly-roll” design. Stacked cells use the internal space more efficiently and can pack in higher energy density. Throw in the silicon-carbon anode tech that’s already pushed a lot of Chinese flagships past 7,000mAh, and suddenly 9,000–10,000mAh starts looking a lot easier to achieve.

Chinese brands already offer solid battery life thanks to dense silicon-carbon chemistry, but cracking five digits in a proper flagship body would set a new bar. Of course, they’d still have to figure out how to fit all the advanced cameras alongside that much battery.

Samsung isn’t sitting still either. Leaks suggest the Galaxy S27 Pro could land around 5,200mAh, while the Ultra might reach about 5,700mAh. That would be the first real capacity bump for Samsung’s Ultra line in years, and it’s expected to use silicon-carbon tech the company is already putting in its foldables.

For now, it looks like metal-encased cells and smarter internal layouts are giving manufacturers new ways to squeeze more capacity out of the same limited space.

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(Source: Digital Chat Station on Weibo)