While next year's Galaxy S25 Ultra will undoubtedly receive plenty of upgrades, it looks like battery life capacity isn't among them. To try and keep component costs down, Samsung is planning to keep the same 5,000 mAh battery capacity and fast-charging speeds that were first introduced with the Galaxy S22 Ultra.
That's according to noted leaker Sawyer Galox on X, as first spotted by Wccftech. Another leaker, PandaFlash, echoed their disappointment with the battery capacity and fast-charging capabilities tipped for Samsung’s forthcoming flagship, cautioning potential buyers to keep their expectations low.
In a follow-up tweet, Galox wrote that the stacked battery technology originally intended for the Galaxy S25 Ultra will be earmarked for the Galaxy S26 Ultra instead. That's a denser version of a battery that can offer more power without an increase in size, though it also needs a cooling system to keep the phone from overheating. "It seems that it was in the plan, but Samsung changed its mind, wanting to reduce costs and put the stacked battery and 65W charging speed in the S26U," he wrote.
It's a bit of a déjà vu moment, as Samsung was previously rumored to make the upgrade to a stacked battery system with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, but obviously, that never materialized. The last time the Galaxy S line saw a battery upgrade was with the Galaxy S22 Ultra, which jumped to the current 5,000 mAh capacity, up slightly from the S21 Ultra's 4,000 mAh.
However, while the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra may have the same 5,000 mAh battery as the Galaxy S23 Ultra, we found that when put to the test, it lasts a lot longer on a single charge. When we put the Galaxy S24 Ultra's battery up against other flagship phones, it outlasted both the iPhone 15 Pro Max and Pixel 8 Pro, coming in second place and just one hour short of the overall winner: the OnePlus 12 with its bigger 5,400 mAh battery.
Samsung Galaxy S25 outlook
It makes sense that Samsung would be going through its production costs with a fine-toothed comb. As we've already heard, Qualcomm plans to raise the price of its Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 application processor to power the best Android phones of tomorrow.
Knowing this, it will probably come down to the power efficiency of the display and Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. The Galaxy S24 Ultra's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip made giant leaps in battery life when we tested it, so despite keeping the same battery capacity for the S25 Ultra, there's still a good chance that the S24 Ultra can still offer a longer battery life.
Incorporating top-of-the-line battery technologies would surely cut into Samsung's margin on the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Given that cameras form the centerpiece feature of the Ultra model, Samsung's much more incentivized to put that time, money, and effort into an upgraded camera set-up instead, and early Galaxy S25 Ultra camera rumors suggest that may very well be the case.
To hear more about what to expect with Samsung's upcoming flagship, be sure to check out our round-up of all the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra rumors so far.
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