Samsung made some radical improvements to the Galaxy Z Fold 7 this year, making it one of the sleekest foldables around. Still, it could not address all of its drawbacks, including average battery life and slow charging speeds. But it seems the company will tackle these issues with the Z Fold 8 next year.
Leaker @kro_roe claims Samsung will optimize the Galaxy Z Fold 8’s internal architecture to bump its charging speed to 45W. This upgrade will supposedly be paired with a larger battery, though he didn’t specify the capacity increase.
Still, any improvement over the Z Fold 7’s paltry 4,400mAh cell would be a welcome improvement and should help improve battery life. Samsung has been using the same 4,400mAh battery inside its flagship Z Fold devices since the 2021 Z Fold 3. Even the charging speed has remained unchanged all these years.
Rumors point to the Galaxy S26 Ultra getting 60W Super Fast Charging 3.0 support. But it seems like for its 2026 flagship foldable, Samsung will only bump the speed to 45W. That should still be enough to noticeably cut down both quick top-ups and full charge times, even with the expected bump in battery capacity.
A previous report claims Samsung could fit a nearly 5,000mAh cell in the Z Fold 8.
Currently, the Z Fold 7 is among the slowest charging foldables around. It takes almost 90 minutes to fully charge the device from an empty cell, while a 50% juice-up requires 30 minutes. That’s despite the foldable only coming with a 4,400mAh battery.
There’s no word yet on whether Samsung plans to increase the Z Fold 8’s wireless charging speeds as well. The current model only supports 15W speeds, which is significantly slower than its Chinese competitors.
Galaxy Z Fold 8 might be all about minor refinements
With Samsung introducing major updates with the Z Fold 7 this year, the Z Fold 8 will likely build on it and address the smaller pain points. Besides faster charging speeds and a bigger battery, the foldable could gain S Pen support and an almost-invisible crease.
Apple will reportedly launch its first folding iPhone next year, so Samsung will need to put its best foot forward with the Z Fold 8 if it wants to protect its share of the category it helped pioneer.
