With 2022's first big phone launch just days away, I've got a request for the universe: please let this be the year Android phones go back to having great battery life.
Android devices used to school the iPhone in battery, but now many struggle to even last a full day. Over the past two or so years, it's been hard to find an Android phone with battery life that's better than "good enough". If you want to eke out as much life as possible from higher-end Android phones, you have to disable assault-on-battery features like 5G and 120Hz refresh rates. Features your four-figure price tag pays for. Even more affordable Android phones haven’t escaped battery woes.
Last year, I experienced disappointment after disappointment. High-end devices including the Galaxy S21, OPPO Find X3 Pro, and Pixel 6 all struggled to hit four hours of screen time reliably. They were the kind of phones that would regularly require a top-up in the evening, especially if I was planning on being away from a charger.
Even top-billed phones like the Galaxy S21 Ultra and Pixel 6 Pro only hit five hours of screen time max, unless you start switching off functionality. That's definitely a more comfortable buffer for all but the heaviest users, but isn't exactly incredible.
For comparison, the standard iPhone 13 comfortably gets between five and six hours per charge, and in our testing, the iPhone 13 Pro Max could easily do at least eight hours of screen time per charge.
Software trickery definitely helps iPhones last longer; they only use 5G when they actually need to, rather than all of the time. But Apple's secret to longer-lasting phones is simple: bigger batteries. For the iPhone 13 family, Apple made every device in the range a little thicker, and crammed in a bigger cell. And you know what, I'm more than happy to sacrifice a little thinness for an iPhone that lasts longer. (The iPhone 13 mini battery could still be better, admittedly.)
It's hard to predict whether 2022 will be the year Android manufacturers finally clock on that high-end features need a high-end battery. I'm apprehensive about the Galaxy S22 family, where the standard Galaxy S22 and Galaxy S22+ are both rumoured to have a smaller battery than their predecessors. Sure, predecessor efficiencies could help with this - and I'll reserve my final judgement after I've tested the phones - but it feels like a step in the wrong direction.
On a more positive note, Qualcomm says its latest high-end Snapdragon processor - the chipset that powers most high-end Android phones other than Samsung's - is its most efficient yet and features technologies specifically designed to help improve battery life.
"Battery life and power efficiency are a top priority for every generation of our 5G products," said Qualcomm Director of Product Marketing for 5G Modem and RF Products, Nitin Dhiman.
"Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 benefits from power efficiency advancements made over four 5G product generations from Qualcomm Technologies.”
Of course, the proof is always in the pudding and it's hard to know just how significant these advancements are until phones get in hands. The OPPO Find X5 Pro will be one of the year's first big releases to feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 in Australia. Rumours also point to it touting a 5,000mAh battery, up from 4,500mAh in the Find X3 Pro last year. Fingers crossed the combo delivers a meaningful improvement.
More than anything else, it shouldn't be an issue getting phones to comfortably last a full day. They're the most important computer in most of our lives, and keeping them alive shouldn't be something we need to think about in 2022. Android users deserve better. So please, Android manufacturers, make your phones a little thicker and give them a bigger battery. It's such an easy win.
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