• China leads globally in average smartphone battery capacity with 5418 mAh, which is 518 mAh more than the rest of the world’s average.
• The growth can be attributed to quick adoption of Silicon Carbon (SiC) battery technology by Chinese OEMs.
• Most of the key OEMs in China registered double-digit YoY growth in average smartphone battery capacity in May 2025.
• The trend is likely to continue as more OEMs move to the new battery technology.
  

The average smartphone battery capacity in the Chinese market reached 5418 mAh in May 2025, growing 11% YoY. The rest of the world’s average capacity grew 3% in the same period, according to Counterpoint Research’s latest Global Handset Model Sales Tracker. China has generally maintained a higher average battery capacity compared to the rest of the world. However, the gap has widened to over 500 mAh in the past few months owing to increasing adoption of Silicon Carbon (SiC) batteries, particularly in models limited to the domestic market.

Average Smartphone Battery Capacity, China vs Rest of World, January 2024 – May 2025

SiC anode batteries feature higher battery density, resulting in higher capacity in similar physical dimensions and also enabling slimmer phones. The first smartphone with the SiC battery was launched in February 2023, but the accelerated adoption started towards H2 2024 with high-selling models like the HONOR X60 Pro, Redmi K80 and vivo S19. The adoption of these batteries in the mid-price segment has enabled faster adoption while resolving one of the key consumer pain points amid growing screen times and higher power-consuming applications like on-device GenAI.

In China, most of the key OEMs registered double-digit YoY growth in average smartphone battery capacity in May 2025, resulting in 6000 mAh-and-above smartphones contributing to 35% of the market, compared to 9% a year ago. As of May 2025, OnePlus featured the highest average battery capacity, primarily driven by its Ace series of smartphones, which are exclusive to the Chinese market. Similarly, brands like HONOR (Play series), Huawei (Enjoy series) and vivo (S series) have introduced larger batteries in models that remain limited to China.

In the coming quarters, we expect China to maintain the lead and even increase the delta in the short term as more smartphones will launch within the country before the global rollout. The growth for the rest of the world will be gradual as key OEMs wait for the battery technology to mature. However, the gap will eventually shrink as more OEMs push larger batteries as a differentiating factor.