Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 7 has arrived with a whole slate of upgrades — at the cost of S Pen support, that is. But despite this year’s big-screen foldable feeling wholly reinvented, there’s one element that’s gone ignored for yet another year: battery capacity.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 sticks to the same 4,400mAh battery capacity as its predecessor, and its predecessor’s predecessor, and — well, actually, you’d have to go back to 2020’s Galaxy Z Fold 2 to find a phone without that identical capacity. That phone had a slightly larger 4,500mAh cell, while the original Galaxy Fold’s battery clocked in at 4,235mAh.
Looking back, it’s clear that packing in a larger battery hasn’t been a primary motivation of Samsung’s, even as rivals like OnePlus and Google have squeezed larger batteries into both of their most recent respective foldables. In regions like Europe and China, the competition is even farther along, thanks to fairly widespread adoption of silicon carbon batteries that allow for larger capacities in smaller physical sizes. Oppo’s Find N5 — very much the OnePlus Open 2 that North America didn’t get — packs a whopping 5,600mAh cell in an 8.9mm foldable, the same thickness as the Galaxy Z Fold 7.
That said, this generation hasn’t seen Samsung skip out on battery upgrades entirely. The Galaxy Z Flip 7 now rocks a 4,300mAh battery, up from 4,000mAh in its direct predecessor. That’s despite the decrease in bulk from 14.9mm to just 13.7mm, or 6.5mm when unfolded.
So, what gives? The folks at SamMobile asked Samsung for an answer, and that answer basically pins it on the demands of consumers. The company told SamMobile that existing Flip users wanted a larger battery above all else, while existing Fold users wanted camera upgrades, a thinner and lighter chassis, and a wider cover screen.
Samsung has seemingly delivered on all three of those elements — though we’ll have to put that camera system through its paces before giving it a thumbs-up — but throwing the lack of a battery upgrade onto the backs of fans seems like a pretty serious cop-out. It’s easy to find examples of fans asking for the Fold series to receive a battery upgrade, and while the thinner chassis does make squeezing a larger cell into this device more difficult, changes to the camera or the cover screen shouldn’t prevent Samsung from delivering on those demands.
Of course, to buy into the company’s logic, you’d also have to ignore the Galaxy Z Fold 7’s missing S Pen support. While I’m sure Samsung has internal numbers showcasing how few people use an optional stylus with their foldables — though I’d hazard to guess part of that is because it’s optional — there’s plenty of fan outcry at the moment over the decision to remove the digitizer. And when you’re simultaneously pushing this new device onto Galaxy Note holdouts in particular, it becomes a little more difficult to believe Samsung’s “fan demands” claims.
The Galaxy Z Fold 7 and Flip 7 are now available for pre-order at Samsung’s website. In addition to saving up to $1,000 in trade-in value, you can score a storage upgrade for free on both devices, and $50 in additional credit for using NewGeekGuide‘s links.
Samsung’s new foldables, alongside the budget-ish Galaxy Z Flip 7 FE, and the Galaxy Watch 8 and 8 Classic, start shipping on July 25th.
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