The Galaxy Z Fold 7 is a technological wonder, but it’s still not moving the needle in one major way
If you’ve read almost anything that I’ve written about previous Samsung foldable phones, then you know that there’s a love-hate relationship between me and the battery life. Before the Galaxy Z Fold 7 rumor mill started ramping up, I had hope that Samsung would make things better than the last three iterations.
Needless to say, those hopes were quickly dashed as soon as we caught wind of the Galaxy Fold Special Edition. It too shared the same measly 4,400mAh battery that Samsung seemingly has a surplus of, or just refuses to let go of. As such, that’s exactly what we’ve got here in the Fold 7.
Fortunately, just like the ones that came before it, battery life has been pretty solid. However, I don’t suspect that to be the case for long.
Battery life is solid… for now
Before I get too far ahead of myself here, let’s talk about how things have been going so far. I’ve had the Galaxy Z Fold 7 for a little over a week, and I think things are finally starting to settle in a bit. Battery life always takes a hit over the first couple of days, between downloading apps, restoring data, and everything else in between.
Since then, I’ve been pretty happy with the Fold 7, as it manages to keep up with me throughout the day, even with an abhorrent sleeping pattern that starts between 7-9 and ends somewhere after 3 a.m. Obviously, some days are better than others, but that would be the case even if this were the Energizer P28K with its 28,000mAh battery.
Could Samsung have done better?
When it comes to actual battery life, I ran two abbreviated versions of my battery-draining test. The test itself is simply playing a 4K HDR video with the screen on, and then setting hourly timers to check the battery life.
| Spec | Setting |
|---|---|
| Brightness | 100% |
| Adaptive Brightness | Off |
| Wi-Fi | On |
| Bluetooth | On |
| Light Mode | On |
| Screen Timeout | 10 minutes (Max allowed) |
| Motion smoothness | Adaptive |
| Volume | 50% |
And instead of just running it on one screen or the other, I started the test on the cover display, and then ran it again from the big screen. Here’s how everything played out:
| Screen | Time Starting | Battery Percentage | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cover | 12:13 | 77% | Row 0 – Cell 3 |
| Row 1 – Cell 0 | 1:13 | 62% | ~15% |
| Main | 2:34 | 42% | Row 2 – Cell 3 |
| Row 3 – Cell 0 | 3:34 | 13% | ~29% |
It shouldn’t be too surprising that the battery drained more when performing the test from the larger main display. There are simply more pixels to power, but I did double-check my math, because I didn’t expect the Fold 7 to drain twice as fast. Then again, besides being larger, the main screen also has a 2184 x 1968 resolution, compared to the 2520 x 1080 resolution of the cover display.
Although I doubt many will be watching videos under these specific circumstances, it doesn’t bode well for the Fold 7’s battery longevity. I’m not really surprised or disappointed in what I’ve seen so far, as it’s just what I expected, even with the efficiency gains provided by the new chip.
Which brings me back to my concerns with Samsung opting for the 4,400mAh for another year. I think there’s probably a prototype somewhere in the labs that has the same screen sizes as the Fold 7, S Pen support, flagship-level cameras, and at least a 5,000mAh battery.
So why not just throw caution to the wind and release the ultimate foldable? Because the mass market dictates otherwise. There’s currently a race to release the thinnest foldable possible, and there seems to be a debate about whether the Magic V5 holds the title or if it now belongs to Samsung. No matter who the current claim-holder actually is, these phones are razor-thin and incredible feats of technology.
But when you consider that the Magic V5 has a battery capacity that’s almost 40% larger than the Fold 7, I can’t help but wonder why. A lot of that has to do with much of Samsung’s competition beginning to integrate “silicon-carbon” batteries, which support faster charging and are said to be more efficient. Samsung continues to rely on a more traditional dual-cell lithium-ion battery.
Ultimately, I think Samsung probably took a look at where the market was trending and then used the Galaxy Z Fold Special Edition as a “testing” device. Since it had a positive reception, and other foldable phone makers were focusing on getting thinner, that’s the route that Samsung took.
As for why Samsung didn’t take the leap into using a different battery technology, I don’t know. There’s probably a well-constructed and semi-logical answer that Samsung would give. But I’m more of the mindset that the company will do whatever it takes to avoid another Note 7 scenario, despite it being almost ten years later.
The short-term future looks bleak
I’ve made it this far without talking about wireless charging, and that’s simply because I haven’t been using wireless charging. The magnetic aspect of Qi2 isn’t built into the phone, probably for the sake of being thin. And frankly, while I own non-magnetic wireless chargers, I haven’t dug one out yet for testing.
Ultimately, what makes me so disappointed with this decision has nothing to do with my current experiences with the Fold 7. It’s all about 3 months, 6 months, or one year from now. The battery will degrade; it’s just science, and it happens with every phone. But for as much as I’ve enjoyed using the Fold 7 so far, I also know in the back of my head that it’s only a matter of time before the tires start to go flat.
The thinnest* foldable phone
There’s no denying how incredible the Galaxy Z Fold 7 is, just from a technological perspective. Samsung packed it with enough upgrades that everyone should consider one, and there’s still time for you to save when pre-ordering.
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