Samsung's next big-boy foldable won't get a bigger battery

At least the phone will be slightly slimmer — fair trade

We're probably still months away from learning anything official about Samsung’s next-gen foldable phones, but leaks have already started to paint of picture of what to expect from the Galaxy Z Fold4. One new report, for instance, suggests the phone could enjoy a much-needed camera upgrade while also arriving in a slightly different aspect ratio. Now the latest finds add new support for some of those rumors, while also dashing our hopes of any big improvements to battery capacity.

Two batteries expected to power the Z Fold4 have picked up their certification in South Korea rated 2,002mAh and 2,268 mAh, as spotted by Galaxy Club. If you do the math, that equates to a total capacity of 4,270mAh, which is pretty much the same as the Galaxy Z Fold3’s 4,275mAh capacity — Samsung will likely market it as 4,400mAh, just like the Fold3. That's not great news to learn, considering the Fold3’s battery life has been a major point of worry for some users. We've heard nothing new about the phone’s charging speed, but Samsung would hopefully include 45W support to lessen the sting of the small battery capacity a little.

New reports also hint at the foldable getting smaller and slimmer — so maybe we shouldn't be too harsh on Samsung for at least managing to maintain battery capacity. The shrinking size ties in directly with the reported new aspect ratio of the phone. According to the rumors, the Galaxy Z Fold4 will feature a 7.56" folding screen and a 6.19" cover screen, compared to the Fold3’s 7.6" and 6.7" displays, respectively. The outer screen would be slightly wider and hopefully a little more comfortable to type on, and the folding screen would square-out even more (which could emphasize those black bars ever so slightly during media playback). You can compare the aspect ratios of the Fold4 and Fold3 in IceUniverse’s tweet below.

Earlier rumors suggested that the Galaxy Z Fold4 would get a built-in S pen, but that's sounding less likely in recent leaks. Considering how much space the stylus takes up and the current battery struggles, it’s understandable.