It doesn’t matter what cellphone you’re carrying round, the one factor that may’t falter is battery life. That’s why we take a look at every smartphone that comes via our evaluation desk for its relative longevity. Up to now, Android smartphones are taking the lead from the iPhone 15 Pro Max, beforehand the best-performing cellphone battery in Gizmodo’s battery benchmark exams.
Now that the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and the OnePlus 12 have gone via the evaluation rigamarol, the iPhone lastly has some competitors within the battery division. It’s nice information for Android customers, who might have felt annoyed in recent times over not-too-stellar efficiency.
Android is doing effectively to this point
Critiques are typically subjective, as each outlet’s respective testing mechanism varies. At Gizmodo, our battery rundown benchmark consists of setting the display screen to about 200 nits on the brightness meter, plus or minus just a few factors, then streaming a 24-hour YouTube in perpetuity till the cellphone dies. We’re contemplating changes as shows get brighter and cellphone makers are extra aggressive at implementing energy-saving software program tips. However for now, that is our benchmark.
Many Android’s hit flagship telephones from the previous two years have been barely hitting the 18-hour mark in our battery exams. For those who needed ample battery life, you needed to low-cost out for a Samsung or Pixel A-series in order that there wasn’t an excessive amount of {hardware} underneath the hood sucking up all of the out there vitality.
OnePlus has had a constant monitor file of providing the perfect battery life within the Android realm over the previous two generations. The OnePlus 10T, a summer time launch with a slight spec bump-up, topped out at 17 hours and 39 minutes, whereas the OnePlus 11, with its 5,000 mAh battery, supplied as much as 20 hours and 43 minutes of video playback. This yr’s OnePlus 12 is much more spectacular with its 5,400 mAh battery: it outlasted the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 25-hour battery life at 27 hours and 43 minutes.
Samsung’s gadgets have regularly gotten higher with every iteration—final yr’s Galaxy S23 Ultra, with its 5,000 mAh battery, lasted 18 hours and 33 minutes in comparison with this yr’s Galaxy S24 Ultra with the identical measurement battery pack, which topped out at 23 hours and 22 minutes.
What’s happening underneath the hood?
The most recent Android gadgets are faring higher with battery as a result of Android 14 gives higher cache administration underneath the hood than earlier generations. Dave Burke, Android’s VP of Engineering, spoke concerning the adjustments a bit extra in-depth in Google’s inside podcast, The Android Show:
We’ve accomplished a ton of labor to cut back CPU exercise of background apps, and the result’s that there’s 30% much less chilly begins now on Android 14.
Chilly begins depend on that preliminary learn and write to hurry up the method. Google stated that customers would really feel the 30% discount, and a few Android boards have already praised the positive aspects in longevity introduced on by the Android 14 software program replace.
The OnePlus 12 and Galaxy S24 Ultra run their respective model of Android—Samsung’s is OneUI, and OnePlus calls its model OxygenOS—however each gadgets are primarily based on Android 14 source code, plus any further tweaking every producer has accomplished on its aspect regarding its explicit {hardware} configurations. We are able to assume among the improved efficiency within the battery is due to what’s taking place underneath the hood and throughout the software program.
We nonetheless have a few further battery exams to run with our arsenal of Android flagships to see how the newest telephones fare towards the remainder of the panorama. It’s promising to see consistency throughout the platform, however we’re additionally curious how Android’s inexpensive set—the OnePlus 12R, the Pixel 8, and the smaller Galaxy S24—fare towards Apple’s iPhone 15.