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Samsung is reportedly preparing to put an authentication chip inside its phone batteries, starting with the budget and midrange Galaxy A line. The purpose is verification. When a battery is replaced, the chip would let the phone or a service centre confirm the pack is genuine. Korean trade publication The Elec reports that roughly 50 million units are planned for 2027.
Samsung has not confirmed the plan. “We cannot confirm the direction of technology development for next-generation products,” a Samsung Electronics official told The Elec. That is neither a denial nor a confirmation, so nothing here is official yet.
Why a battery chip matters the day you replace one
Battery replacement is the repair most long-term phone owners eventually face. It is also the repair where a counterfeit part is hardest to spot. A substandard cell can look identical from the outside. The failure mode is not a dead phone but a fire risk.
An authentication chip turns that check from guesswork into a lookup. A technician, or the phone itself, can ask the pack to prove it is what it claims to be. The Elec also reports a second motive. Samsung reportedly wants to track battery history and status across large device volumes, which feeds recycling and traceability.
The stakes grow as support windows stretch. Samsung now ships budget phones with long update commitments, including the Galaxy A18 and its six years of updates. A phone kept that long will need a new battery at some point.
How the reported system works
The technology named in the report is VIA PUF, a physical unclonable function. Each chip derives a unique cryptographic value from microscopic manufacturing variations in its circuit vias. Those variations are extremely hard to reproduce, which is what makes the chip’s identity hard to clone.
Supply is reportedly split between two vendors. US-based Analog Devices and South Korea’s ICTK would provide the chips. Samsung SDI builds the battery packs that carry them.
Why the Galaxy A series goes first
Starting at the bottom of the range looks odd until you look at volumes. The Galaxy A line is Samsung’s best-selling family by volume. Counterpoint Research figures cited by The Elec rank the Galaxy A16 5G fifth among the world’s best-selling phones in 2025. The Galaxy A06 4G sits just behind it in sixth.
Arguably these are also the phones whose owners are most exposed to a bad replacement part, simply because there are so many of them in circulation.
The open question for independent repair
Here is the part worth watching. Parts authentication protects buyers from fake cells. The same mechanism can also be used to restrict who is allowed to fit a replacement. Apple’s parts-pairing approach has drawn years of criticism on exactly that point, though its method may differ from a PUF chip.
Nothing in the report says Samsung’s system would penalise third-party repair. It remains to be seen whether a genuine battery fitted outside Samsung’s network would trigger a warning. The alternative is a chip that simply verifies the cell and leaves it there. That detail decides whether this lands as a safety feature or a lock-in feature.
