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iPhone 6s Plus posts excellent battery life, matches the Galaxy Note5 to the minute

posted by Chris P. / Sep 30, 2015, 3:38 AM

iPhone 6s Plus posts excellent battery life, matches the Galaxy Note5 to the minute

* UPDATE: Recharging time benchmark added!

Never one to bet on specs, Apple always omits a few key details of its iPhones, including the capacity of the cells powering them. Thankfully, it doesn't take long for the industry to disassemble a unit and read the label, and on the iPhone 6s Plus it reads 165 mAh less than on its predecessor's: 2,750 mAh. Naturally, then, we were expecting the 6s Plus to score in the 6-hour plus ballpark, about the same as the iPhone 6 Plus. We couldn't have been more wrong.

33,060 seconds. Or 551 minutes. Or 9 hours and 11 minutes. No matter how you slice it, the score that the iPhone 6s Plus achieved on our proprietary battery benchmark is impressive, which is a first for an iPhone in our database. As if to prove a point, the 6s Plus clocked the exact same figure as Samsung's shiny new Galaxy Note5, which boasts a slightly larger, 3,000 mAh cell. An excellent showing.

This achievement definitely comes as a surprise, as Apple actually reported identical numbers of standby, talk time, and video and music playback for the 6s Plus when compared with its predecessor. Obviously, these numbers have failed to capture internal optimizations that the company has carried out, and we'll be reaching out to Apple to try and find out what they are. In the meantime, we can't help but wonder if the iPhone 6s Plus holds any other, as pleasant surprises.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus 9h 11 min (Excellent)

Apple iPhone 6 Plus 6h 32 min (Average)

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 9h 11 min (Excellent)

Google Nexus 6 7h 53 min (Good)

LG G4 6h 6 min (Average)

Sony Xperia Z3+ 7h 15 min (Good)

Motorola DROID Turbo 10h 42 min (Excellent)

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ 9h 29 min (Excellent)

OnePlus 2 6h 38 min (Average)

View all

So battery life's all good, but do we dare say quick charging with Apple's new phablet darling? Unfortunately, the results from our charge test say "No" loud and clear. At 165 minutes, the iPhone 6s Plus is preeeetty slow to raise from the dead and get to full capacity, and so is decisively outdone by competing Android handsets.

Apple iPhone 6s Plus 165

Apple iPhone 6 Plus 171

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 81

Google Nexus 6 98

LG G4 127

Sony Xperia Z3+ 189

Motorola DROID Turbo 126

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+ 80

OnePlus 2 150

View all

Thumbnail image courtesy of iFixit

Related phones

View Full specs

PhoneArena Rating:

9.2

Read Full Review

User Rating:

9.2

Based on 21 Reviews

Display 5.5" 1080 x 1920 pixels

Camera 12 MP / 5 MP front

Processor Apple A9, Dual-core, 1840 MHz

Storage 128 GB

Battery 2750 mAh(24h 3G talk time)

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129 Comments

1. bistech

Posts: 59; Member since: Jul 23, 2015

Best phone with the best battery life. Come suck it android sheep.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 8:29 AM 23

3. Biernot unregistered

Virgin Detected

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 8:30 AM 104

30. amats69

Posts: 1527; Member since: Nov 12, 2012

this post made my day..lmao

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 9:17 AM 16

95. j2001m

Posts: 3061; Member since: Apr 28, 2014

Please also note Apple speed of there new iPhones is down to hd as they got there own new format and they not using Emma, but something that like as fast as ufs, but uses ther MacBook controller, no joke, I.e. All the new speed is not down to CPU and also why reviews was saying transfer speeds was faster on files

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 6:21 PM 0

132. Tizo101

Posts: 515; Member since: Jun 05, 2015

lol! that comment just killed me days later.

posted on Sep 30, 2015, 8:52 AM 0

64. Jason2k13

Posts: 1448; Member since: Mar 28, 2013

+100 haha

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 11:46 AM 4

93. arch_angel

Posts: 1651; Member since: Feb 20, 2015

OHHHHH Goooooooot Emmmmm.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 5:56 PM 0

133. Zylam

Posts: 1808; Member since: Oct 20, 2010

Only a Virgin can detect another Virgin.

posted on Sep 30, 2015, 9:25 AM 0

5. hung2900

Posts: 966; Member since: Mar 02, 2012

Brainless ifan cannot even read. The best battery life phone but not rank the first? Lol.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 8:32 AM 33

85. sgtdisturbed47

Posts: 960; Member since: Feb 02, 2012

Yes, Droid Turbo has the best battery, but that's about it. Terrible screen, camera, and UI. Note 5 has been matched by the iPhone 6S Plus, and that was unexpected. I wonder how well it'll fare with other websites' battery tests. I have been very happy with the Note 5, and certainly more happy than I was with the Turbo.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 4:41 PM 2

152. coldspring22

Posts: 349; Member since: Feb 28, 2015

Not really, checkout battery benchmark from most other sites. They rank iphone 6S as being as bad or wrose than iphone 6. Iphonearena battery benchmark for iphone 6/6S is totally screwed up. 3 hours improvement with smaller battery? Yea right. A total farce with everyone else reporting poor battery life for iphone 6S.

posted on Oct 15, 2015, 3:24 PM 0

88. 99nights

Posts: 1152; Member since: Mar 10, 2015

Many people on here don't actually read the article lol.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 4:47 PM 2

102. riteshrkm

Posts: 145; Member since: Apr 15, 2015

Moto Droid Turbo is only good with battery rest its a disaster. if i am in so need of battery i will rather buy a 10k mah power bank rather than spending 650$ on that piece of s**t

posted on Sep 29, 2015, 2:17 AM 0

15. pmsap

Posts: 105; Member since: May 26, 2015

You have to let Samsung incorporate OS 6.0 and then we'll see.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 8:51 AM 2

19. Neros

Posts: 1016; Member since: Dec 19, 2014

Inferior screen, inferior front -facing camera, inferior recorded sound, smaller base storage, more expensive outside the US, inferior design (nothing beats platinum edge), no wireless nor fast charging, inferior camera according to the verge test. Get owned.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 8:54 AM 34

21. fonelover123

Posts: 153; Member since: May 04, 2015

also bezel king.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 8:57 AM 37

45. j2001m

Posts: 3061; Member since: Apr 28, 2014

What you on about, big time bezel King as its 2" smaller than the note 5 on screen size

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 10:04 AM 1

87. sgtdisturbed47

Posts: 960; Member since: Feb 02, 2012

You mean 0.2" smaller, not 2".

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 4:44 PM 1

62. 99nights

Posts: 1152; Member since: Mar 10, 2015

Has always been bezel king. It's kinda hideously and inappropriately oversized imo.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 11:23 AM 4

148. xdza1979

Posts: 296; Member since: Aug 08, 2015

Ibezel.

posted on Sep 30, 2015, 5:54 PM 1

53. Xen0F0rm

Posts: 9; Member since: Feb 05, 2014

Wireless charging is pretty dumb actually. It's terribly hard to use the phone while it's charging, the only thing it's useful for is when you going straight to bed. Just put the phone down and go to bed. Anywhere else it's pretty much useless. I've had wireless charging built into my Lumia Icon since mid 2014, and after having it for this long I can easily say I do not care about wireless charging.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 10:49 AM 5

69. Bjray

Posts: 199; Member since: May 29, 2014

That's the entire point actually... IF your battery is good enough then you don't have to worry about using it while it's charging. Simply when your finished just place it on the pad and wake up ready to go to the next day. Obviously if a battery isn't robust enough that experience can't happen. Most phablets last over a day so that shouldn't be a problem for most users.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 12:26 PM 2

90. sgtdisturbed47

Posts: 960; Member since: Feb 02, 2012

Wireless charging is great for overnight charging. Corded charging is way faster and doesn't require as much charging time thanks to the new Fast Charging using the included charger (as opposed to the older Note 4 fast charger that seems to only kick in when the phone is close to dead). Since owning the Note 5, I've only had to plug it in while using it a couple times. Wireless charging has its purpose.

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 4:51 PM 2

91. cheetah2k

Posts: 2190; Member since: Jan 16, 2011

Wireless charging is awesome. At least you don't wear out the micro USB port with constant insertion of the cable over the life of the phone. Its a personal preference though, and I use it and prefer it over cable charging

posted on Sep 28, 2015, 5:20 PM 2

143. Shocky unregistered

Erm, what do you mean? it's quite easy to use the phone while wirelessly charging. If your referring to calling then you can't do that with a provided cable anyway, unless you like sitting on the floor, but then again maybe you would, iPhone users are all wall huggers after all.

posted on Sep 30, 2015, 12:49 PM 1

149. vampyren

Posts: 22; Member since: Apr 26, 2013

Inferior screen = not really, who needs 4k screen that just consumes battery, totally stupid. front -facing camera: again who cares, its for Facetime only i use it for. inferior recorded sound,= not sure but should be same same smaller base storage = who the hell get the base anyway, i go 128GB, can you get that with your Note5? didnt think so! Also Samsung sucks with their bad memory management and slow touchwiz, for each damn update they make the phone gets worse, i know cause i have several galaxy model. Only thing i agree is wireless charging and fast charging, those are great feateres. And now they killed the note with removing SD and battery cover. Its now just a iPhone wannebe. iOS is just superior and more efficient.

posted on Oct 03, 2015, 6:31 AM 0

55. marorun

Posts: 5029; Member since: Mar 30, 2015

Best phone? question of point of view. Best depend on what someone need. By example best phone for me mean a phone thats wont break if i drop it and if i drop it and break it its cover by warranty. Not many OEM offer this whitout additional cost. Best battery life really? i charge my phone 1 time per 3 days. Average screen time is over 12 hours. I have 3 email sync in push mode. 2 calender. and 3 social network sync in push ( facebook , twitter , linkind ) So i return your comment. Come suck it iphone sheep.