If rumors making the rounds online prove to be true, Samsung may use a terrible battery supplier for its much-awaited foldable phones.

According to a report by The Elec, Samsung is assessing batteries from Chinese lithium-ion battery producer ATL (Amperex Technology Limited) for its upcoming foldable smartphones.

If things go as planned, it will be the first time Samsung will use ATL batteries on its Galaxy Z series foldable phones. To recall, the South Korean tech behemoth teamed up with ATL back in 2017.

However, the collaboration turned out to be disastrous for Samsung as multiple reports of the device catching fire surfaced. Samsung blamed ATL batteries for the cause of the fiasco at the time.

Samsung Could Use ATL Batteries For Its New Foldable Phones

Interestingly, new Galaxy A and M series phones use ATL batteries to draw their juices. Aside from this, the Samsung Galaxy S21 is backed by a battery from Chinese firm ATL.

To recall, Samsung foldable phones like the Galaxy Z Fold and Z Flip come with batteries from SDI. However, in a new development, the company might use ATL batteries for foldable phones. Also, this could be one of the cost-cutting measures adopted by Samsung for its upcoming foldable devices.

Notably, it is still unclear whether Galaxy Z Fold 4 will boast upgraded battery capacity over its precursor. However, it is likely to depend on the supplier Samsung ends up going with.

The word on the street is that the Z Fold 4 will be slightly smaller than its predecessor, the Galaxy Z Fold 3. So, both could have the same battery size. If that’s the case, software optimization and chipset will be the only differentiating factors.