Smartphone batteries are approaching a new performance milestone.

Smartphone batteries are about to cross another major milestone, as one prototype undergoes testing, and another is readied for mass production.

This development also implies that more affordable phones will feature larger batteries. While they probably won't reach 15,000 mAh, capacities of 8,000 mAh or even 10,000 mAh should become common.

The future we anticipate

Regrettably, the most well-known phone manufacturers in the United States, such as Samsung, Apple, and Google, have not yet embraced silicon-carbon batteries. Apple is moving toward using these batteries, with a silicon-carbon anode for the iPhone 17, but all three still use Li-ion batteries.

Compared to the forthcoming 12,000 mAh and 15,000 mAh batteries, the 5,000 mAh batteries found in the Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 17 Pro Max seem inadequate. This is an area where these companies lag.

Also, because of the limited competition from Chinese phone companies in the United States, Samsung and Apple are unlikely to invest in silicon-carbon soon. This suggests that we will only see minor improvements, such as the underwhelming battery upgrade in the Galaxy S26 Ultra.