I ran a battery test with the best Samsung, Google, and OnePlus phones - the winner surprised me

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Total artillery capableness is lone 1 origin influencing existent instrumentality longevity.
• Lab tests show however antithetic hardware components interaction powerfulness depletion rates.
• Efficient processors and surface settings are important for maximizing artillery performance.

Battery size is not ever a straightforward comparison. The highest fig of milliampere hours (mAh) doesn't ever construe to the longest artillery life. Indeed, "battery life" itself is somewhat subjective. A telephone streaming a video saved to section representation volition past longer than a telephone exporting a 30-minute 4K video, and yet different telephone streaming Spotify to a car connected a roadworthy travel (with the surface off) volition past longer than both.

As you mightiness person gleaned from that, the main things that volition chew up your artillery the fastest are the surface and the processor. The waters get muddied a spot further erstwhile you see things similar an AMOLED sheet versus an LED screen. Suffice it to say, determination are a batch of factors to negotiate.

Also: I changed 7 settings connected my Samsung telephone for importantly improved artillery life

So erstwhile OnePlus launched the OnePlus 15R with a 7,400mAh artillery and noted that it's the largest artillery successful a telephone you tin bargain successful the US, we took notice. Then we said, "Prove it." We decided to enactment that artillery size to the trial successful 2 antithetic ways. First, we conducted a section 4K video streaming test, and past we performed a artillery rundown trial utilizing PC Mark. Both sets of results were astonishing successful antithetic ways. Here's what happened.

How we tested

To start, we chose the phones we wanted to test. In the US, determination are lone a fewer manufacturers to take from -- Samsung, Google, Motorola, Apple, and OnePlus. I don't person the largest offerings from Apple oregon Motorola (and investigating a flip phone against the OnePlus 15R wouldn't output overmuch utile information), truthful I constricted my trial phones to the OnePlus 15, OnePlus 15R, Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. 

The archetypal trial I ran was PCMark's Work 3.0 Battery Rundown test. This trial runs the benchmark successful a cycle, investigating web browsing, video editing, writing, photograph editing, and information manipulation successful a loop until the phone's artillery reaches 20%. Then, it tells you however agelong it took the telephone to get there.

Adam Doud/ZDNET

For the video playback test, I stole this thought from YouTuber and chap ZDNET colleague Christian De Looper (who performs a ton of head-to-head artillery tests connected his channel). I usage a 4K mentation of the movie "The Avengers" and play it connected a loop with VLC. 

Also: I changed 7 settings connected my Samsung telephone for importantly improved artillery life

The phones are each enactment into Airplane mode with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth some disabled. Screen brightness gets acceptable to 100% and the measurement acceptable to 25% -- due to the fact that you tin lone perceive to the Hulk's roar truthful galore times earlier you privation to propulsion your hairsbreadth out. Then I acceptable up a camera to video them and seizure the nonstop clip they unopen down.

Here are the results.

Video playback test

For the video playback test, I pressed play simultaneously and fto them run. The archetypal telephone to instrumentality its shot and spell location was the Pixel 10 Pro XL, which featured a 5,200mAh battery. The Pixel 10 Pro XL lasted little than 1 day, astatine 19:37:56. The adjacent to autumn was the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra's 5,000mAh battery, aft 25:56:26. Then, interestingly enough, the OnePlus 15R checked retired astatine 28:36:00, portion the OnePlus 15 lasted 30:58:28; its 7,300mAh artillery outlasted the 15R's 7,400mAh cell.

Also: How to wide your Android telephone cache (and hitch retired lag for good)

Both the OnePlus 15R and the OnePlus 15 person akin screens -- they're some AMOLED with 1800 nits of brightness successful high-brightness mode. The OnePlus 15R has a flimsy larger surface astatine 6.83 inches versus the 6.78 inches of the 15. The OnePlus 15 besides has a (theoretically) higher ratio processor successful the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 versus the Snapdragon 8 Elite. That operation of factors is astir apt what accounts for the OnePlus 15 outlasting its younger sibling.

PCMark test

Where things got truly absorbing was the PC Mark artillery test. During that test, the OnePlus 15R fell archetypal astatine 11:10, followed by the S25 Ultra astatine 11:32. Then the Pixel 10 Pro XL lasted 12:34, and the OnePlus 15 clocked successful astatine 13:18. The cardinal quality present was apt successful the processors, since this trial is each astir processing -- video editing, information management, etc. 

The Tensor 5 spot successful the Pixel 10 Pro XL, according to Google, was designed with powerfulness ratio successful caput implicit earthy power, which is simply a bully attack successful this case. The Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 besides exhibits akin powerfulness ratio compared to the erstwhile generation, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is recovered successful the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Still, I expected the OnePlus 15R to execute amended here.

Bottom line

All this goes to amusement that artillery beingness truly is simply a premix of a batch of antithetic factors. Just similar much megapixels don't needfully mean amended photos, and much cores don't needfully adjacent much power, bigger batteries don't needfully construe to enhanced stamina. It's a important portion of the puzzle, but it's not the full picture.