Motorola just made silicon-carbon batteries mainstream — here’s what that means for the iPhone 18 and Samsung Galaxy S27
Bringing silicon-carbon to the masses
by https://www.techradar.com/uk/author/james-rogerson · TechRadarNews By James Rogerson published 30 April 2026
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- The Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 and Motorola Razr Fold both have silicon-carbon batteries
- This technology allows for a higher capacity with the same footprint
- The Razr Fold is the first silicon-carbon phone to be available from US carriers
Motorola has just announced a bunch of new products, but arguably the most exciting part of the announcement is buried in the spec details: two of the company’s new phones have silicon-carbon batteries, and one of them will be the first such device that's available to buy from US carriers.
Specifically, the Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 has a 5,000mAh silicon-carbon battery, and the Motorola Razr Fold has a 6,000mAh one, and as Android Authority points out, they should both be widely available at retailers in the US, with the Motorola Razr Fold additionally coming to T-Mobile, Xfinity Mobile, and Verizon.
That’s a big deal, because silicon-carbon batteries are a huge development in battery technology, allowing for higher capacity batteries without a size increase. But so far, very few phones with these batteries have been sold in the US, and none through carriers (the OnePlus 15, for instance, is available from OnePlus directly and Amazon, but not through mobile carriers).
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You can see the impact of this battery technology by comparing the specs of the Motorola Razr Ultra 2026 to those of its predecessor, the Motorola Razr Ultra 2025. That phone has a 4,700mAh battery, but the switch to silicon-carbon this year allows for a 300mAh greater capacity, without any change to the weight or thickness of the phone.
This upgrade is especially beneficial for foldable phones like these, which don’t always have room for high-capacity batteries. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, for example, has just a 4,400mAh battery, so it’s far lower capacity than the similarly designed Motorola Razr Fold.
Samsung and Apple might take note
And now that Motorola is making silicon-carbon batteries easily accessible to US buyers, the likes of Samsung, Apple, and Google might feel more pressure to follow suit — especially as battery life was recently found to be the biggest driver of smartphone purchases.
If big names like Samsung and Apple do switch to silicon-carbon, that benefits the whole world, not just the US, as buyers everywhere could enjoy higher capacity batteries.
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