Tom's Guide reviews the battery of the Galaxy S24 Ultra and OnePlus 12, along with iPhone 15 Pro Max and Pixel 8 Pro.
We tested all of the best flagship phones with our custom battery benchmark test to find out which one gets the longest battery life, along with which one can recharge the fastest. Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip appears to give an edge to the two most recent Android phone releases.
We tested all of the best flagship phones with our custom battery benchmark test to find out which one gets the longest battery life, along with which one can recharge the fastest. Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip appears to give an edge to the two most recent Android phone releases.
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TechTranscript
00:00 Gone are days when a single phone charger
00:02 lasts you days or weeks,
00:03 but battery life is still an important factor
00:06 when considering which phone to get.
00:08 At Tom's Guide, we make sure to test every new handset
00:11 so that we can be sure the advice we're passing on to you
00:14 doesn't fall foul on the brand's marketing.
00:16 So, with this year's releases wrapped up
00:18 with the Galaxy S24 Ultra,
00:20 it's time to answer which flagship phone
00:22 had the best battery life.
00:24 Let's find out.
00:25 When using a phone, what drains the battery the most?
00:27 Gaming.
00:28 Gaming is gonna be the thing that takes up
00:30 the most battery life because it's using the GPU,
00:32 cranking out the graphics,
00:34 so inherently it's gonna cause more battery drain.
00:37 And I also think watching a lot of videos,
00:39 especially outside when you're watching it
00:41 with the sun present,
00:42 because the screen's gonna be extra bright,
00:44 it's gonna cause more power usage,
00:46 and the battery life's gonna be dropped at that point.
00:48 Some of the ways manufacturers have tried to combat this
00:51 as phones become more advanced is, for starters,
00:54 an adaptive refresh rate.
00:56 So most phones nowadays, especially the flagships,
00:58 they have 120 hertz refresh rates.
01:00 That's gonna be a big battery drain.
01:02 So as an alternative to save more power,
01:05 there's either adaptive mode,
01:07 which will automatically adjust the refresh rate,
01:09 or drop it down to a steady 60 hertz mode,
01:12 so that's really more power efficient.
01:14 There are also light sensors in the displays
01:17 to measure the ambient brightness
01:18 so that the display will adjust accordingly.
01:21 So in dimmer situations,
01:22 you're not gonna notice a brighter screen,
01:24 it's gonna be a lot lower.
01:25 And lastly, there's the chipset.
01:27 I think it's the most integral part in all of this,
01:29 because the more power efficient it is,
01:32 the longer the battery life.
01:33 So how do we measure battery life
01:35 when a new handset comes out?
01:37 In our custom battery tests,
01:38 we make phones surf the web continuously over 5G
01:41 until they run out of juice.
01:43 We set the phone's screen at 150 nits of brightness
01:46 to ensure comparable results.
01:48 And if the phone has a display with a fast refresh rate,
01:51 we test multiple times with that feature enabled
01:53 and disabled to get a sense
01:55 of what kind of battery life you can expect.
01:57 The average phone lasts around 10 hours,
01:59 so anything over that mark offers solid battery life.
02:03 But to earn a place on the best phone battery life list,
02:06 you need to go past 13 hours.
02:08 With all that being said,
02:09 here's how this year's flagships compare.
02:12 Meet the longest lasting flagship phone we've ever tested.
02:15 The S24 Ultra's performance is 2 1/2 hours better
02:18 than Apple's flagship,
02:19 which is no slouch when it comes to lasting a long time
02:22 on a charge.
02:23 Samsung did increase the battery size in the Ultra.
02:26 It remains at 5,000 mAh,
02:28 so we have to give credit
02:30 to the Snapdragon 8th Gen 3 chip
02:32 powering the phone for its excellent efficiency.
02:35 It's also worth noting we recorded that time
02:37 with the S24 Ultra's adaptive refresh rate turned on,
02:41 so the Qualcomm chipset does a great job managing power.
02:45 Charging speeds remain at 45 watts,
02:47 but we managed to get a 71% charge after 30 minutes
02:51 using a 45-watt USB-C charger.
02:53 Samsung doesn't include such a charger with its phone,
02:56 so if you want top charging speeds,
02:58 you'll need to pick up this accessory on your own.
03:01 The iPhone 15 Pro Max lasted more than 14 hours
03:04 on our battery test,
03:06 a truly impressive time
03:07 for one of Apple's flagship devices.
03:09 We credit the A17 Pro chipset,
03:11 which is built on a three nanometer process.
03:14 Because of that,
03:15 the transistors are more densely packed
03:17 than a four nanometer chipset,
03:19 which usually leads to more efficient power management.
03:21 You can charge your iPhone 15 Pro Max with USB-C
03:24 now that the Lightning port is a goner
03:26 on all iPhone 15 models.
03:29 Unfortunately, that doesn't translate
03:30 to a boost in charging speeds.
03:32 The Pixel 8 Pro's battery gets a minor boost
03:35 up to 5,000 milliamp hours
03:37 and scores a respectful time of 10 hours and three minutes.
03:40 That said, it still falls well behind the results
03:42 posted by the iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Galaxy S24 Ultra.
03:46 In my real-world use,
03:47 the Pixel 8 Pro's battery was completely depleted
03:50 a couple hours before I normally would go to bed.
03:53 That's a shock because most flagships I test
03:55 tend to have between 10% and 15% of battery life
03:58 before I call it in for the night.
04:00 Adrenaline Pixel 8 Pro managed to get up to 59%
04:03 after 30 minutes with its fast charging,
04:05 which is a consolation for its weaker battery life.
04:08 Now, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
04:10 is the obvious winner out of the main brands,
04:12 but there's another phone
04:14 that eclipses even that in our testing.
04:16 This is the OnePlus 12.
04:18 It lasted more than 17 and a half hours on our battery test
04:21 with the help of a 5,400 milliamp hour battery
04:24 and the power management features
04:25 of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Silicon.
04:28 It got that time with the phone's adapter display enabled
04:31 so you could take advantage of faster refresh rates
04:33 without having to worry about
04:34 that feature draining the battery.
04:36 The OnePlus 12 also offers wireless charging,
04:39 which makes it a welcome return to OnePlus's flagships.
04:43 Wire charging supports 80 watt speeds in the US,
04:45 which is good to know because the Samsung Galaxy S24
04:48 is half that, and you also get 50 watt wireless speeds.
04:52 OnePlus may not be a household name,
04:54 but it's definitely popular in the industry.
04:56 Check out our full review of the OnePlus
04:58 and the other flagships on the channel,
05:00 and we will also link the latest deals to them down below.
05:04 And now for a little bonus.
05:05 If you're strapped for cash
05:06 or looking to get your parents or grandparents a phone
05:09 where they may not need all the cutting edge tech,
05:11 but will really rely on a solid battery,
05:14 then the OnePlus Nord N300 could be the way to go.
05:17 This low-cost offering from OnePlus
05:19 lasted 13 hours and 13 minutes on our battery test.
05:22 We also appreciate the 33 watt charging speed
05:24 that this $228 phone supports.
05:27 If you don't want to spend big bucks on a long-lasting phone,
05:30 the OnePlus Nord N300 may be an option.
05:33 So, which device would you choose?
05:35 Is battery life even that important to you anymore?
05:37 Let me know in the comments below.
05:39 You can also follow us on social, @timesguide,
05:42 on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter.
05:44 I'm John V, and I'll see you in my next video.
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