Samsung explains why the Galaxy Z Fold 7 doesn't have a bigger battery, but it isn't a very convincing answer

• Samsung says it didn't give the Z Fold 7 a bigger battery because users wanted it to prioritize other features
• Instead, the company prioritized improving the cameras, making the phone thinner, and giving it a wider cover screen
• However, with silicon-carbon battery tech now available, it seems like the company could still have upgraded the battery too

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is an upgrade on the previous model in numerous ways, but one notable area where Samsung hasn’t made any improvements is the battery capacity, with both phones having a 4,400mAh unit.

This is especially odd as the battery capacity was one of the main things the company did improve on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 – and now Samsung has explained its reasoning.

Speaking to SamMobile, the company has claimed that in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7, a bigger battery was the most-wanted feature by users, but with the Galaxy Z Fold 7, there were other priorities from foldable fans, including “better cameras, a thinner and lighter body, and a wider cover screen.”

But we’re not entirely convinced by this explanation for a few reasons. First off, 4,400mAh really is a very low capacity for a phone of this size, with the much smaller Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra for example having a far larger 5,000mAh battery.

So the Galaxy Z Fold 7 could certainly have done with a larger battery, and with the phone now being longer and wider (thanks to its larger screens) Samsung surely could have found space for a bigger battery if it hadn’t chosen to further slim the phone down instead.

The best of both worlds

But Samsung didn’t even necessarily need to choose between a thinner phone and a bigger battery. That's because some handsets – including the OnePlus 13 and the foldable Honor Magic V5 – now use silicon-carbon batteries.

This type of battery tech allows you to increase the battery capacity without increasing its size, and it’s a tech that Samsung is reportedly considering using for the Galaxy S26 series – a line of phones that’s arguably less in need of this, since the Samsung Galaxy S25 series already have decent battery capacities for their screen sizes.

So why couldn’t Samsung offer this tech in the Galaxy Z Fold 7? Perhaps it’s a matter of cost, with a silicon-carbon battery possibly pushing the price up. Or perhaps Samsung is exhibiting an abundance of caution in increasing capacities, so as not to risk a repeat of the widespread battery issues faced by the Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

The good news at least is that if Samsung really is considering silicon-carbon batteries for the Galaxy S25 line then the same tech may well be used for the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 – it’s just a shame we'll have to wait another year to possibly get it.

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