- A new rumor suggests that Xiaomi’s next flagship phone could be saved a 7,000 mAh battery
- It could see Xiaomi almost twice as much as the battery capacity of the current gene iPhone 16
- Xiaomi 16 is extremely unlikely to come to the United States
Another day, another futuristic specifications rumor about a Chinese telephone manufacturer – this time we’ve heard of a big step forward in mobile battery capacity from Tech giant Xiaomi.
The people of PhoneArena discovered a Weibo post of the remarkable tipster Smart Pikachu, who claims the Xiaomi 16 could be equipped with a massive 7,000 mAh battery, which would make the Xiaomi 16 the first phone with a battery of this capacity.
Before I dig into it, let me warn the tip by noting that this post was translated from Chinese using the translation setting in Google Chrome, so this information is not crystal clear. But Hashtag -Smart Pikachu user seems to be in reference to Xiaomi 16, and Phonearea believes that ‘7’ in the translated post (which I have screenshotted and added below) refers to the battery size.
We have only recently seen phones approaching and crossing the 6,000 mAh mark, and the current generation of Xiaomi 15 Sports Et 5,240mAh battery so 7,000 mAh seems like a very ambitious goal.
Xiaomi 15 launched this year, so we would expect Xiaomi 16 to be launched at a time in 2026 – as PhoneArena emphasizes, it’s the same year we expect to see iPhone 18, Samsung Galaxy S26 and the Google Pixel 11 series Launch.
In fact, a 7,000 mAh battery would put Xiaomi 16 at the forefront of what is even possible for a flagship smartphone – there are phones on the market with larger cells, but these are typically voluminous and intense sturdy phones.
Our in-depth Xiaomi 15 review found the phone’s battery life impressive, especially for a compact frame phone-it is easy to see that an increase of 33% up to 7,000 mAh could take Xiaomi’s flagship into the highest links in mobile battery masters.
And although I still think 7,000 mAh is a high target, it is true that Android phone manufacturers – especially Chinese companies – have pushed further as it comes to battery hardware. It made me think if a particular Cupertino-based tech giant will be looking to catch up soon.
Capacityopacity
Apple is famous shy with its mobile battery capabilities, instead choosing to list the practical battery life of an iPhone in hours of video playback.
This is probably for the best, as the exact numbers that have recovered from demolition and deconstructions after release show that iPhones rarely have batteries as large as their Android counterparts.
E.g. Pieces the iPhone 16 a 3,561mAh battery – less than the 4,000 mAh cell found in the Samsung Galaxy S25. The Google Pixel 9 is far ahead, at 4,700mAh-as is closer to the enlarged iPhone 16 Plus’ 4,674mAh cell (which in itself is under-dimensioned compared to the 5,000-6,000 mAh cells found in larger phones from Oppo, Samsung and Xiaomi).
It is not to say that iPhones do not offer good battery life – in recent years it seems that Apple seems to have raised its game with software optimization and effect efficiency – but iPhones are rarely considered battery animals in the way the best Android phones are.
I wonder if the arrival of an Android phone – Xiaomi 16 or actually another model – with a 7,000 mAh battery could change it. For reference it is nearly double The capacity of iPhone 16, a feat enabled by space-saving and efficiency-promoting silicon-carbon battery technology.
Apple has always been happy to do its own things when it comes to hardware, but I’m not sure it would be happy to have iPhone quite as obviously overwritten by Xiaomi.
Optimistically, I would like to see Apple a little spooked of this Xiaomi rumors – As mentioned, the iPhone 16 already gets a lot from its relatively small battery thanks to Apple’s effective chipsets and tight software integration.
A 4,000 mAh battery, or even bigger, could see the iPhone that lives up to its strong treatment performance, cameras and software experience in the battery department.
With Xiaomi that shows no signs of entering the US market soon soon, it is possible that Apple will not even consider this latest rumor in its planning. Still, I hope Apple can give the best iPhones a little more juice in the coming generations.
Tell us what you think about this new Xiaomi 16 rumor and whether you are counting on Apple to respond with its future phones, in the comments below.
