Motorola beats Samsung, Google to silicon-carbon batteries

For better or worse, the major US smartphone brands haven’t adopted silicon-carbon battery technology. Apple, Google, and Samsung keep sticking with traditional Lithium-ion batteries for their reliability, ignoring the benefits of compact and high-capacity silicon-carbon batteries. The upside of using silicon-carbon batteries in smartphones, especially foldables, is that manufacturers can put cells with large capacities in compact form factors. Previously, US shoppers had to look to OnePlus phones if they wanted the innovative silicon-carbon batteries, but Motorola is changing that with its newest Razr Ultra 2026 and Razr Fold models.

Motorola’s Razr Ultra 2026 is a flagship flip phone that will be sold at Best Buy, Amazon, and Motorola universally unlocked when it debuts on May 21, 2026. Pre-orders open up a week earlier, and it’ll make the first flip phone with a silicon-carbon battery available to the US market. Motorola’s Razr Ultra 2026 is a prime example of how silicon-carbon batteries can increase capacity without adding thickness or weight.

The Razr Ultra 2026 has a 5,000mAh battery life thanks to the silicon-carbon battery chemistry, which is 300mAh more than the Li-ion battery used in the Razr Ultra 2025. However, Motorola didn’t have to change the dimensions of its flagship Razr at all to accommodate the change. When folded the Razr Ultra 2026 is still 88.1mm tall, 74mm wide, and 15.7mm thick. Even the 199-gram weight is a perfect match between the 2025 and 2026 models of the Razr Ultra. Here’s how Motorola explains the shift in a press release:

Thanks to revolutionary silicon-carbon technology, users get the benefit of long-lasting battery life without a thicker phone, maintaining the razr family’s thin and pocketable design without compromise.

The Motorola Razr Fold also uses a silicon-carbon battery, and it’s perhaps more impressive than the Razr Ultra 2026. The Moto Fold packs a 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery in a foldable that’s only 9.89 mm thick. The weight is hefty at 243 grams, but there’s more adding to that load than the battery. The silicon-carbon battery supports 80W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and 5W reverse wireless charging, finally bringing the latest battery and charging innovations to US foldable phones.

Motorola’s Razr Ultra 2026 and Razr Fold will be much more accessible to the average US shopper. Both phones will be widely available through retail channels, and the Razr Fold is coming to T-Mobile, Xfinity Mobile, and Verizon in the coming months. Since most smartphone buyers stateside purchase phones through carrier deals, this is crucial for the availability of silicon-carbon batteries in phones for the US market.