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Samsung · Battery & power · Filed Feb 10, 2026 · USPTO published Jun 18, 2026 · Jun 18 release

Samsung Files Patent for a Battery Built to Bend Around Your Device

Most batteries are rectangular bricks — but Samsung is patenting one with a curved cross-section, designed to wrap more naturally inside devices that aren't flat.

By · Updated · 3 min read

Samsung Patent: Curved Battery for Future Devices Explained, figure from US 2026/0171627 A1
Figure from the official USPTO publication.
Publication number
US 2026/0171627 A1(US20260171627A1)
Filed · Published
Feb 10, 2026 · Jun 18, 2026
Inventors
Hyungwoo PARK, Shihyun KIM
Status when we published
Waiting for an examiner
Document
12 claims
US classification
429/122
Parent application
Continuation of PCT/KR2024/012908 (filed Aug 28, 2024)(PCTKR2024012908)

What Samsung's curved battery design actually does

Think about how your phone or a smart watch is shaped. The outside might be curved or rounded, but the battery inside is usually a flat rectangle — which means a lot of that curved interior space goes wasted, or the device has to be thicker than it needs to be.

Samsung is patenting a battery that curves to match that space. The battery's internal layers — the positive plate, the negative plate, and the thin separator between them — are wound together and then shaped so the whole cell has a curved cross-section instead of a flat one.

One detail Samsung is working through is how the electrical tabs (the little connectors that carry current in and out of the cell) are arranged. The patent describes making them run along the length of the battery and overlap with the electrode plates, which helps the design stay electrically consistent even when the geometry isn't a simple rectangle.

How the wound electrodes follow a curved cross-section

The patent describes a curved battery cell in which the internal stack — a positive electrode plate, a negative electrode plate, and a separator (a thin insulating layer between them) — is wound together and then formed into a curved shape rather than a flat one.

The outer housing follows the same curve, enclosing the cell. The key engineering challenge with this approach is the electrode tabs — the metal strips that connect each plate to the battery's terminals. In a flat battery these are straightforward; in a curved one, the geometry means the tabs have to be carefully positioned so they maintain good electrical contact without buckling or creating dead spots.

Samsung's approach is to arrange at least one tab so it:

  • Runs along the full length of the battery cell
  • Overlaps with a portion of the electrode plate it's connected to
  • Maintains consistent contact even across the curve

The patent frames this as a general platform — "various other embodiments may be possible" — suggesting Samsung is thinking about this as an architecture that could apply to several different device form factors, not just one specific product.

What this means for future curved Samsung hardware

Curved batteries have been a recurring target for consumer electronics makers because the internal volume of a curved or rounded device is genuinely wasted by flat cells. If Samsung can get a curved battery into production reliably, it opens up design options for wearables, foldables, and any device where the housing shape is dictated by ergonomics rather than battery geometry.

For you as a user, the practical payoff would be either more battery life in the same-sized device, or a thinner/lighter device with the same capacity — because the battery finally fits the actual shape of the space it lives in. Samsung already makes Galaxy watches and foldable phones where this kind of battery geometry would be directly useful.

Source: US 2026/0171627 A1 at the USPTO (PDF). Full patent text and figures are in the official publication.

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