Credit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police | Motorola
By
Ben Khalesi
Published Mar 10, 2026, 7:00 AM EDT
Ben Khalesi writes about where artificial intelligence, consumer tech, and everyday technology intersect for Android Police. With a background in AI and Data Science, he’s great at turning geek speak into plain English. When he’s not working, you’ll find him bouldering.
Sign in to your Android Police account Add Us On Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread 8 Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recapI’ll never forget the excitement when the first foldables hit stores. It felt like a breath of fresh air in a market obsessed with tiny upgrades.
These days, though, foldables are stuck in the same cycle.
Fortunately, Motorola seems ready to shake up the status quo, and I couldn’t be more excited. It proved foldables could be slim without compromising battery life and did it with tech Samsung wouldn’t dare touch.
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Posts 5 By Mark JansenSamsung’s four-year foldable battery plateau
Check the Fold’s track record. Since 2021, Samsung has stayed stuck at 4,400 mAh. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 through 7 all shared the same battery size.
But since the Fold 3, our phones have been doing a lot more. We’re talking AI, heavy multitasking, and even AAA games with ray tracing.
Samsung relied on Galaxy AI and CPU optimizations to stretch the 4,400 mAh battery, and the Fold 7 was fine for normal tasks.
But the battery disappears quickly when you open the 8-inch screen to play a high-end game or multitask with several apps.
The battery breakthrough powering the Razr Fold
Most lithium-ion batteries use graphite for the anode. It’s stable, yes, but bulky and limited in how much energy it can hold.
Switch to silicon, and you can pack way more energy into the same space.
The engineering problem is that silicon expands, and each time you charge a silicon-anode battery, it swells. To fix the swelling issue, makers turned to a silicon-carbon composite.
That’s what lets the Motorola Razr Fold use a 6,000 mAh battery. Motorola accepted a 1mm thickness penalty compared to Samsung and, in return, gave us a much better battery. That’s a trade I’d take any day.
Now, Motorola isn’t alone in adopting this technology. In China, Honor has been embarrassing Samsung for over a year. Their Magic V6 is thinner than the Samsung, and yet it packs a 6,660 mAh battery.
Motorola is just the first to bring this technology to North America on a large scale. I think it’s going to be a wake-up call for every other Fold manufacturer in the US.
Charging speeds also show how far behind Samsung is
Battery capacity alone isn’t the only problem. The Galaxy Z Fold 7 still relies on 25W wired charging.
By comparison, the Razr Fold comes with Motorola’s TurboPower 80W system, which it claims can give you 12+ hours of use in under 10 minutes plugged in.
The exact numbers remain to be tested, but 80W charging is already a major upgrade.
According to Samsung, 25W charging is meant to preserve battery health throughout the seven years of promised updates.
But let’s be realistic. You’re going to replace the battery eventually if you keep the device that long.
Why hold back when you could use it to its full potential and get the experience a premium device promises?
Samsung is falling behind on wireless charging too. It caps out at 15W, while Motorola is pushing 50W on the Razr Fold.
Credit where it’s due, Samsung’s 25W setup plays nicely with third-party adapters. Motorola’s 80W, on the other hand, needs a dedicated power brick.
Will the Galaxy Z Fold 8 finally fix Samsung’s battery problem?
Rumors suggest that Samsung is finally waking up and might upgrade the Galaxy Z Fold 8 to a 5,000 mAh battery and 45W charging.
But even if they do, Samsung will still be 1,000 mAh behind where Motorola is today.
Subscribe for deep foldable battery and tech coverage
Want clearer buying decisions? Subscribe to the newsletter for in-depth breakdowns of foldable battery breakthroughs, silicon-carbon vs graphite tradeoffs, charging and capacity comparisons, and straightforward analysis that helps you evaluate new foldabl Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You can unsubscribe anytime.At the Galaxy S26 press briefing, Samsung’s Executive Vice President Jeong Seung Moon said the company is actively working on silicon-carbon batteries.
It’s unlikely the Fold 8 will have it, given that the S26 didn’t use silicon-carbon, so the Fold 9 is the more likely candidate.
He also said the company won’t put them in its phones until they’ve cleared rigorous internal tests.
I think Samsung is still haunted by the ghost of the Galaxy Note 7. After that disaster, the company became conservative with batteries.
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Posts 1 By Rajesh PandeyThe bold move that made Motorola the star of MWC 2026
Motorola made a bold move in the foldable phone market. Motorola is sending a message that it’s done being the cheap alternative and is aiming for the top.
Considering that Motorola is generations behind Google and Samsung in the fold market, I think this was the right move. Time will tell if this gamble pays off, but right now, I’m excited about what’s coming.
With its resources and engineering talent, Samsung could have made this move and held onto the crown. Instead, the company retreated to its comfort zone once again and stuck with graphite anodes.
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