- Samsung explains why the S26 series doesn’t have silicon-carbon batteries
- The technology has not yet passed its “very rigorous validation standards”
- But Samsung added that “we are preparing it” for future phones.
While Samsung’s flagship phones are still some of the best on the market, their batteries increasingly leave more to be desired – and that hasn’t changed with the Samsung Galaxy S26 series, with Samsung making minimal changes to their capabilities or technologies.
While some competitors like OnePlus and Xiaomi have moved to silicon-carbon batteries, which have higher energy densities, Samsung is again sticking with traditional lithium-ion cells for its new S26 lineup. However, it appears that Samsung is working on making this change in the not too distant future.
Speaking at a panel discussion ahead of its Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event, Sung-Hoon Moon (executive vice president and head of the smartphone R&D team) acknowledged in response to a question that when it comes to batteries, the company may have been “a little bit uninnovative on that front.”
There are, however, solid reasons for this. It appears silicon-carbon batteries aren’t quite ready for prime-time use on a Samsung-scale flagship phone, with Sung-Hoon Moon saying they must pass the company’s “very rigorous validation standards.” In other words, silicon-carbon batteries can’t do it yet.
Samsung added that the batteries should also produce significant gains in the real world. Sung-Hoon Moon said that customer experience is always king and that “once we believe that the silicon battery would also end up improving the customer experience, we will also take this option into consideration.”
While Samsung doubts these batteries can make a big enough difference to our smartphone experience right now, that certainly doesn’t rule them out either.
“So for the silicon battery, we are preparing it,” Sung-Hoon Moon added. This means that Samsung is striving to join OnePlus and Xiaomi with silicon-carbon battery technology, but it has still come too early for the S26 series. And to be honest, there are several reasons why this is understandable.
Silicon-carbon batteries have their drawbacks
Look on it
Silicon-carbon batteries are not without flaws. First, they tend to degrade more quickly than lithium-ion ones. So even if they start at a higher capacity, they could wear out much faster.
They are also bulkier than lithium-ion batteries, which could pose a danger to phones. This is probably something that worries Samsung more than most, given that issues with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 led to fires and a global recall in 2016.
Of course, phones like the OnePlus 15, Xiaomi 17 Ultra, and other phones have high-capacity silicon-carbon batteries, and we haven’t heard of any major issues with them yet. OnePlus also claims that the OnePlus 15, for example, can retain 80% of its original capacity after four years.
Yet while it appears Samsung is being overly cautious, the lack of large-scale long-term safety data is likely why the phone giant — along with Apple and Google — has yet to take the plunge, even with its new S26 series. But at least we now know that the company isn’t completely ignoring this promising technology.
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