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Which? says iPhone 7 has worst battery-life of all current flagship smartphones

UK-based consumer testing organization Which? says its tests show that the iPhone 7 has the worst battery-life of all the current flagship smartphones.

Which? testing has revealed that the battery on the iPhone 7 doesn’t last as long as its three major rivals. We compared the iPhone 7’s battery life, when making calls and browsing the web, to those of three top Android competitors: the Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10 and LG G5, and the results were staggering.

The organization is well-respected as it uses highly scientific tests designed to eliminate the many variables that can plague more casual comparisons …

In the interest of fairness, we test battery life using our own phone network simulator. This ensures that the signal strength is consistent for each test, which is important as a phone has to expend more power when it’s struggling for reception. We also set the screen brightness on every phone to the same level.

The differences seen when web-browsing using mobile data weren’t dramatic. The HTC 10 performed best, managing 790 minutes of continuous use. The iPhone 7 was worst, at 615 minutes, but not hugely lower than LG’s G5 which managed 640 minutes and Samsung’s Galaxy S7 at 677 minutes.

However, the differences in call time were huge. While third-placed Samsung Galaxy S7 achieved 1492 minutes, the iPhone 7 only managed 712 minutes.

There is a pretty obvious reason for this, however: the 4.7-inch iPhone 7 is the smallest of all the handsets tested, meaning a smaller battery. Indeed, as Which? notes, the battery life results were roughly in line with the physical sizes of the batteries. But when people are shopping on specs, it’s still a number that’s going to jump out, and is perhaps support for those who’d rather Apple made the phones very slightly thicker in order to boost battery-life.

Via Business Insider

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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