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10 flagship phones with the best battery life (May 2015)

posted by Daniel P. / May 05, 2015, 9:38 AM

10 flagship phones with the best battery life (May 2015)

The flagship phones crop for this and last season has already been all unveiled and accounted for. We have great phones to pick coming from all sides - Samsung, Apple, LG, Sony, HTC and the Chinese juggernauts like Huawei. They will all get the job done, and then some, so it's getting pretty hard to choose one as a daily driver. Given the rather negligible for the typical user differences in processing power, screen or camera quality among flagships these days, we wanted to rank them all by one of the most important characteristics that still makes a huge difference - battery life - helping you cut through the marketing fluff.

We've run all recent flagships through our standardized battery benchmark test already, and, unfortunately, it turned out that this season's crop doesn't represent any progress in terms of battery life compared to last season's, or even their predecessors that were out about a year ago at this time. The influx of premium unibody designs and Quad HD displays certainly took its toll on the progress of battery endurance, so last year's champs are still reigning supreme, at least until we measure what Sony will do next. Here are 10 of the current flagships ranked by their battery life - from the ones you can easily take on a weekend away from the charger, and still have juice left on Monday, to the ones that will simply make it through the day.

Battery life (hours) Higher is better	LG G4 6h 6 min (Average) HTC One M9 6h 25 min (Average) Motorola DROID Turbo 10h 42 min (Excellent) Samsung Galaxy S6 7h 14 min (Good) Sony Xperia Z3 9h 29 min (Excellent) Samsung Galaxy Note 4 8h 43 min (Excellent) Xiaomi Mi 4 8h 32 min (Excellent) Huawei P8 7h 12 min (Good) Apple iPhone 6 Plus 6h 32 min (Average) Google Nexus 6 7h 53 min (Good)
Charging time (minutes) Lower is better	LG G4 127 HTC One M9 106 Motorola DROID Turbo 126 Samsung Galaxy S6 78 Sony Xperia Z3 235 Samsung Galaxy Note 4 95 Xiaomi Mi 4 126 Huawei P8 180 Apple iPhone 6 Plus 171 Google Nexus 6 98

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LG G4

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HTC One M9

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Apple iPhone 6 Plus

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Huawei P8

View more + 79 images

Samsung Galaxy S6

View more + 123 images

Google Nexus 6

View more + 43 images

Xiaomi Mi 4

View more + 30 images

Samsung Galaxy Note 4

View more + 57 images

Sony Xperia Z3

View more + 33 images

Motorola DROID Turbo

View more + 14 images

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99 Comments

1. hafini_27

Posts: 949; Member since: Oct 31, 2013

Sony is doing really well in the battery department. I really wish Sony found a way to get back to the smartphone industry.

posted on May 05, 2015, 9:52 AM 17

3. waddup121 unregistered

True. Almost picked a Sony Xperia SP over my Nexus 4 as it had a much better battery for the price.

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:04 AM 7

10. f35hunter

Posts: 240; Member since: Dec 12, 2013

But it is nice to see how the galaxy s6 with quad HD display and 2550 mAh battery scores better than iphone 6 plus and htc m9 although they came with less resolution and more battery capacity ! Oh Optimization!!

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:15 AM 18

34. Supraman21

Posts: 467; Member since: Jun 09, 2010

Ok people really have to understand the tech behind OLED. Resolution has little to no effect on power draw with OLED screens. The reason why LCD's draw considerably more power with higher resolution is the fact that the backlight has to be even brighter to penetrate through the high ppi. OLED emit their own light so nothing really changes. The only increase in power is from the CPU and GPU but the display consumes the majority of power so efficiency is still better. Just look at the battery life of the GS5 and GS5 LTE-A. One is 1080p and the other is 2k yet they have the same battery life.

posted on May 05, 2015, 11:15 AM 9

53. f35hunter

Posts: 240; Member since: Dec 12, 2013

Ok for the example of GS5 and GS5 LTE-A the GS5 LTE-A have a higher tier processor (SD805) which theoretically consume more power with it higher clocking cores and juice hungry GPU but it is on par with the GS5, just to give you another example of good optimization is what sony did with its LCD screens and how sony gets the more from its battery (although its flagships came with bigger capacity)

posted on May 05, 2015, 12:41 PM 0

55. joevsyou

Posts: 1091; Member since: Feb 28, 2015

agreed, I added it to the list and was sorta shocked where it was rated. I would exspected be more on terms on the note 4

posted on May 05, 2015, 12:55 PM 0

13. f35hunter

Posts: 240; Member since: Dec 12, 2013

But it 7s nice to see how the galaxy s6 scores better than iphone 6 plus and htc m9 although they came with less resolution and morebattery capacity ! Optimization !!!

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:18 AM 4

4. o0Exia0o

Posts: 903; Member since: Feb 01, 2013

The problem Sony has is marketing. If they got the word out about their products and generated buzz about them more carriers would be vying to have them on their network. I would have loved to have had the Z3 compact had I been able to use it on Verizon. Most people don't even realize that Sony is still producing Cellphones and that's because their not marketing their products.

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:04 AM 2

8. Scott93274

Posts: 6033; Member since: Aug 06, 2013

I cannot get excited about their mobile devices because I never hear anything about them. That's honestly what it comes down to.

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:11 AM 0

11. o0Exia0o

Posts: 903; Member since: Feb 01, 2013

Case and point. Bad/no marketing. Look at the battery life scores for the Z3 and Z3C many people would have bought those phones on that reason alone, but Sony missed the opportunity on that. Sony has no one to blame for their mobile divisions position but themselves and their marketing department.

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:17 AM 1

93. dazzmichael

Posts: 71; Member since: Sep 15, 2014

Sony made me switch to android. The Z3 is class and the battery is splendid.

posted on May 06, 2015, 6:18 PM 0

6. walid

Posts: 9; Member since: Oct 11, 2014

It is not out yet

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:06 AM 0

78. AnTuTu

Posts: 1612; Member since: Oct 14, 2012

Note 4 hands down :)

posted on May 05, 2015, 9:48 PM 1

90. yoosufmuneer

Posts: 1518; Member since: Feb 14, 2015

It still rocks in every department!

posted on May 06, 2015, 8:03 AM 0

86. robocopvn

Posts: 504; Member since: Mar 10, 2010

my z3c rocks !! it should appear in this list :D :D

posted on May 06, 2015, 1:39 AM 0

2. Shocky unregistered

As disappointing as the battery life was is on the Galaxy S6, it's shocking how bad some of the others are this year.

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:03 AM 8

7. o0Exia0o

Posts: 903; Member since: Feb 01, 2013

Really for the screen density & shrinking the battery form 2800mAh to 2550mAh, Samsung only lost about 24 minutes from the S5 to the S6. I would chalk that up as a win. I believe that the ever-growing pixel density would be one of the reasons that batteries are taking a hit this year.

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:10 AM 4

48. torr310

Posts: 1659; Member since: Oct 27, 2011

Not having a longer battery life is a lose. Do not get deceived!

posted on May 05, 2015, 12:10 PM 4

50. o0Exia0o

Posts: 903; Member since: Feb 01, 2013

Loosing 24 minuets for having the most detailed & color accurate display while cutting 250mAh off of the battery VS the difference in Battery life of the LG G2 and G3 or G4 who kept the bigger batteries. Yes, Id call that a win. And the look of the S6 is just damn sexy....

posted on May 05, 2015, 12:24 PM 1

62. slannmage

Posts: 289; Member since: Mar 26, 2013

That is because the GS6 screen uses less power than any Galaxy phone before it.

posted on May 05, 2015, 1:54 PM 0

64. o0Exia0o

Posts: 903; Member since: Feb 01, 2013

I'm certain that optimization of the Android OS software and touchwiz had a large roll to play in the feat that Samsung pulled off, but I believe that their in house manufacturing of components also played a part in reducing the power consumption of the Galaxy S6.

posted on May 05, 2015, 2:03 PM 0

102. Macready

Posts: 1821; Member since: Dec 08, 2014

The S6 Edge was even tested to last over half an hour longer than the S5, despite smaller battery.

posted on May 19, 2015, 6:14 AM 0

5. Pattyface

Posts: 1658; Member since: Aug 20, 2014

I currently have a note 4 and a nexus 6 and the difference in battery life is huge unlike this chart. It should be much better than it is. VERY disappointed in that portion of this phone.

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:05 AM 0

9. Scott93274

Posts: 6033; Member since: Aug 06, 2013

Motorola Droid is king yet again in regards to longevity.

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:15 AM 3

12. Napalm_3nema

Posts: 2236; Member since: Jun 14, 2013

I own a 6 Plus and a GS6, and the GS6 (Both my Rogers version and my AT&T version) gets nowhere near the same battery life my Plus does, even with all of the Google bloat disabled. I get more than double the SoT on my 6 Plus.

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:17 AM 5

16. twens

Posts: 1175; Member since: Feb 25, 2012

That is because the 6 plus has a good standby time. I own one too. This battery test only takes into account how fast the battery drains when you're using the phone and that's why the 6 plus doesn't come close to the above.

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:28 AM 1

23. Salazzi

Posts: 537; Member since: Feb 17, 2014

That's why he wrote SoT (Screen on Time). I got great life too. 11 hours and 21 minutes screen on time until 20%, and 13 hours 32 minutes screen on time until 3%. This is while gaming and using social media extensively. Standby time though was 1 day and 8 hours (20%) and 1 day 11 hours (3%). As for charging speed, I assume they're calculating it using the equipment that comes with the iPhone. I use my iPad brick, and it charges up my phone (6 Plus) in 65 minutes (20%-100%, with 5 minutes plugged in to ensure the charge is topped). 5%- 100% took me ~72-73 minutes (first 20% of the battery always charge the fastest).

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:44 AM 1

79. Tajiseo

Posts: 48; Member since: Mar 03, 2015

There is no way you can get a SOT of 11 hours on a phone! Don't look at the 'usage stats' = SOT because they are different lol

posted on May 05, 2015, 10:54 PM 0

81. Salazzi

Posts: 537; Member since: Feb 17, 2014

As I pointed out below, Usage IS SoT. The only instance where it is not, is if you play music with your screen off, in which case it still tallies into usage. I rarely listen to music on my phone, and this 11 hour SoT does not have any background music playing attributed to it. HEAVY usage, such as hours of nonstop gaming, such as during flights or trips (or even church) gives me 5.5-6 hours straight of graphics intensive gaming (a few breaks of turning the screen off here and there). But with normal use I average 9-12 hours of use. Light use I can get up to 16 of SoT and 2 days standby before putting it on charge. Of that 16, no more than 30 min would be from background music listening, so technically 15.5 hours if people want to get fancy. Heavy use would be 4-6 hours gaming with small breaks to check social media. Normal use would be 2-3 hours gaming, larger portion spent on social media. Light use would be 1-2 hours gaming, the rest being attributed to web browsing, social media, banking, and other misc apps.