A new leak suggests the Samsung Galaxy S22 will have a smaller battery than its predecessor, echoing several previous rumors and convincing us even more that Samsung will shrink its battery capacity.
A new certification listed on Safety Korea, as spotted by Phone Arena, shows a photo of a supposed Galaxy S22 battery unit with two numbers in the label’s fine print: a ‘typical capacity’ (often the figure used in advertisements) of 3,700mAh, with a rated capacity of 3,590mAh. By comparison, last year’s Galaxy S21 had a typical capacity of 4,000mAh and rated capacity of 3,880mAh.
That’s a slight but not insignificant drop in capacity, and goes against general precedent that batteries get bigger in phones going forward – or at least not smaller. But that’s the second time we’ve heard that the Galaxy S22’s rated capacity will be 3,590mAh after a previous rumor.
We’ll have to see, of course, if a lower capacity directly translates to less battery life – or if Samsung can manage efficiencies and other tricks to make the Galaxy S22 last as long as its predecessor.
Analysis: smaller phone, smaller battery – is anything better in the S22?
We’re still a ways out from the Samsung Galaxy S22’s launch, which we expect to follow its predecessors by coming early next year – likely January 2022.
What we have heard suggests the phone will have a 6.06-inch display and be physically smaller than the Samsung Galaxy S21 (which had a 6.2-inch screen). It would make sense that the battery may have a consequently smaller capacity, then, though certainly unfortunate.
Otherwise, a recent Samsung Galaxy S22 render leak suggests the phone will look much like the S21 before it, with vertically-aligned rear cameras nested in a sizable camera bump. In other words, not much new – although another render of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra reveals a potential camera setup that doesn’t have a bump at all – just glass covering all five lenses in an oblong shape. We’ll just have to wait and see whether these are the final designs for the phone.
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