A leaked OnePlus handset with a massive 9,000 mAh battery could signal a turning point for flagship smartphones, where battery anxiety finally stops being part of the conversation.
Tom Bedford / Digital Trends
The best Samsung smartphone in the market, the Galaxy S25 Ultra, features a 5,000 mAh battery. Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro Max, on the other hand, also features a similar battery cell.
While both of these phones deliver excellent endurance, comfortably lasting a day with moderate use, an upcoming OnePlus smartphone could nearly match the combined battery capacity of the best Samsung and Apple phones on the market.
According to the Indian tipster Abhishek Yadav, the Chinese smartphone manufacturer OnePlus is gearing up to unveil a new smartphone (globally) with the codename “Volkswagen.” The smartphone will be powered by the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset (also found in the Nothing Phone 3).
A 9,000 mAh battery could change expectations
However, the main highlight of the proposed OnePlus smartphone remains to be a 9,000 mAh battery that supports 80W wired charging. Currently, the OnePlus 15R holds the title of the company’s biggest battery phone. The cell uses silicon-carbon technology to maximize the energy density, resulting in an exceptionally large battery pack for the phone’s size and weight.
With the 7,400 mAh battery, the OnePlus 15R easily provides around 12 to 13 hours of screen-on time (with mixed usage). The phone supports 80W SUPERVOOC wired charging, which fully charges the battery in about 1 hour and 15 minutes. However, the upcoming smartphone could even make the newly-launched OnePlus 15R look outdated.
If I were to speculate, the OnePlus smartphone with a 9,000 mAh battery and a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 (4nm) could easily outlast the OnePlus 15R, providing around 13 to 15 hours of screen-on time between charges.
Not only will the phone last over an entire day of moderate usage, but it could also be the first smartphone to offer a two-day battery in the real sense of the phrase. However, this is the extent of the information that’s available about the phone.
If OnePlus is indeed working on a smartphone with a 9,000 mAh battery, more details about the handset should appear online in the coming days. In 2026, expect more manufacturers to push the boundaries of smartphone battery technology, alleviating battery anxiety for good.
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