Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra just tipped for huge battery life boost

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra hands-on
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

A few days ago we heard a disappointing rumor about the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Specifically, it may keep the same 5,000 mAh battery and 45W charging as the Galaxy S24 Ultra and Galaxy S23 Ultra. But it might not all be bad news, according to the newest rumor.

According To leaker NegativeOneHero the upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 could offer a major boost to the efficiency of the Galaxy S25 Ultra and other Android flagships. Apparently, internal testing data shows that there’s been a single digit improvement in energy efficiency — and a “huge” improvement to GPU performance.

The leaker claims that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 should offer the same peak performance as MediaTek’s Dimensity D9300 chipset while using half the power in the process. Which is pretty darn impressive, though it’s claimed this may come at the expense of overall performance.  

Apparently if you want high CPU performance, you should wait until the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 — which won’t be unveiled until late 2025 at the earliest. 

What this means is that what the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will lack in raw performance, it should make up for in reduced energy consumption. The main benefit to that improved efficiency is that the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s 5,000 mAh battery should last longer than the S24 Ultra’s — despite being the same size. 

It should also mean a lot less heat is produced, especially when the hardware is being pushed to its limit. Less heat potentially means less need to upgrade the internal cooling system, since Samsung won’t have to worry about high temperatures affecting the phone. Heat is known for being detrimental to performance and long term battery health, so the less heat there is the better.

It may be disappointing for those of you hoping for an even bigger boost in performance. But personally I think the more usage time we can squeeze out of a phone battery the better. We’ll likely found out more about this at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit in October, and then again once the first Android flagships start arriving with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 installed.

For now, make sure you check out our Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hub for all the latest rumors and leaks. 

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Tom Pritchard
UK Phones Editor

Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.