It looks like one Samsung Galaxy S26 Edge battery upgrade we were hoping for isn't happening

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No silicon-carbon technology?

The Galaxy S25 Edge in the hand
We're already thinking about a successor to the Galaxy S25 Edge (Image credit: Future)
  • More Galaxy S26 Edge battery details have leaked
  • The phone could stick with lithium-ion tech
  • A larger 4,200 mAh capacity has been predicted

Now that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is out, we can start thinking about what the Galaxy S26 Edge is going to offer – but it seems that one of the rumored new features supposedly arriving with the phone will now be pushed back to a later model.

Certification documents relating to the phone seen by SamMobile confirm that the 2026 handset is going to stick with the traditional lithium-ion battery technology that has been powering smartphones for the last few decades.

Earlier this year there had been talk that Samsung would make the jump to the superior silicon-carbon battery technology with the Galaxy S26 series, which offers bigger capacities (and more time between charges) in batteries of the same size.

Now it seems as though that isn't going to happen – at least for the Samsung Galaxy S26 Edge, where the extra capacity would've been very welcome. As we put it in our Galaxy S25 Edge review, the battery life on the device "isn't great".

Onwards and upwards

Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus in Navy Blue showing settings Quick Settings drop down, standing in between two adorable Android figurines

We may not see a Plus model next year (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)

However, the same regulatory certification does point to a different kind of battery upgrade: the Galaxy S26 Edge is apparently going to come with a 4,200 mAh capacity battery, compared to the 3,900 mAh capacity of the current model, as previously rumored.

That should mean some extra time between charges, and hopefully Samsung can put together some additional hardware and software optimizations that mean battery life won't be something to worry about on the Galaxy S26 Edge.

There have also been rumors that the Galaxy S26 Edge could effectively be replacing the Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus model, so there would be no Plus model in 2026 – and three flagships rather than four for the Galaxy S26 series.

The Samsung Galaxy S26 series should be launching in January 2026, if Samsung sticks to its usual schedule. Before that though, we're expecting to see a new Galaxy S25 FE phone and some Galaxy Tab S11 tablets announced next Thursday.

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David Nield
David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.

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