Samsung's game-changing wearable battery-life upgrade could arrive next year, and even the Apple Watch could benefit

(Image credit: Future)

Samsung is preparing to roll out a massive upgrade to wearable battery tech
It has developed a solid-state battery that can be used in small devices like smartwatches
The company says it plans to start mass production next year and is in discussion with multiple clients

Samsung has revealed that it's closer than ever to producing its solid-state battery upgrade for wearable tech.

In 2024 it was revealed that Samsung was working on a wearable battery technology dubbed a "dream battery", the world's first ultra-small all-solid-state battery for wearable devices. The upshot is a battery that's much denser than current tech, which means you can cram much more battery life into a small space, like the chassis of the best smartwatches.

As reported by The Korea Herald, Chang Duk-hyun, CEO of Samsung Electro-Mechanics, the company's components subsidiary, has revealed that it could start mass producing the tech next year, although who will benefit first is anyone's guess.

Apple or Samsung?

Speaking at the CES 2025 tech expo in Las Vegas last week, Chang said "We have secured energy density and capacity characteristics at the industry-leading level" for Samsung's next-generation wearable batteries. He admitted there were unknowns because the technology is so new, but said the company had done "extensive internal testing" and was in "discussions with clients."

His use of "clients" plural hints at a key intrigue around the new technology, namely that Samsung and its Galaxy Watch range won't be the only beneficiaries of the new technology. Like Samsung Display, Samsung Electro-Mechanics serves a range of clients, so while some have reported that Chang's comments indicate that a major battery upgrade is coming to Galaxy Watch models, it's just as likely that the best Apple Watch in 2026 could also be sporting the tech.

The report reiterates previous details, notably that Samsung's oxide-based solid-state batteries boast an energy density of 200 watt-hours per liter, "on par with bigger conventional lithium-ion batteries."

Right now, the best Garmin watches are king when it comes to battery life on a wearable, with devices like the new Garmin Instinct 3 offering some 24 days of use, or potentially endless battery life thanks to solar power.

Solid-state batteries seem to be the next big thing in wearable battery tech, and be it Samsung, Apple or another manufacture, whoever can put the tech into a mass-market device first is likely to gain a massive advantage.