Get longer-lasting battery life with top picks like iPhone 16 Pro Max, Galaxy S25 Ultra, OnePlus 13, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Nothing Phone 3.
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It’s been said that we’ve already reached „peak smartphone“; that is, we’ve already perfected smartphones, so most improvements from here on out will only be marginal. Battery life is one area, however, where we’re waiting for a big breakthrough to change everything. Until new battery technologies revolutionize battery life, smartphones remain stuck in the rut of „all-day“ battery life that they’ve had for years already. You might squeeze an extra few percentage points by changing a few iPhone settings to extend battery life, or you could buy a smartphone that boasts great battery life from the very beginning.
A few important things to note here. First, this is not about the smartphones with the absolute best battery life; Chinese smartphone manufacturers are dominating that category thanks to their use of higher-capacity silicon-carbon batteries, which can’t be purchased in the U.S., unlike those on this list. Popular brands in the U.S. (Apple, Google, Samsung) have yet to hop on the silicon-carbon bandwagon.
The phones we discuss here have received praise across reviews for good battery life. In addition to this, we’re not taking into consideration how each individual phone ranks beyond its battery, nor are we considering price; these phones may lack in other areas. So if it’s just great battery life you need, then these five options will do the job for you.OnePlus 13
Who actually owns OnePlus is a bit confusing, but it’s one of the few Chinese-based manufacturers that U.S. customers can buy directly from. OnePlus used to make flagship phones for budget prices. They still have a budget OnePlus Nord lineup, but nowadays their bread and butter is the OnePlus 13, retailing for $899. Paying flagship prices means you get some truly excellent battery life. While this is obviously due in large part to its 6,000-mAh battery, this is also one of two phones on this list that ship to the U.S. with a silicon-carbide battery, or Silicon „NanoStack“ battery in OnePlus’s words. Perhaps this is also due to software optimization with OnePlus’s OxygenOS, so it’ll be interesting to see if OnePlus maintains this lead once its U.S.-centric competitors get on the silicon-carbon train.
We’ve seen general praise across the industry for its battery life, with people specifically noting it as one of the biggest selling points. Our own Adam Doud gave it a special thumbs up for the battery life, too, especially the insanely fast 80W charging speed. Doud mentions how the phone’s battery life is so good that it changes a person’s relationship with charging. It lasts so long and charges so fast that charging ceases to take up much mental bandwidth. If your phone dies, you can charge it in 30 minutes, no problem, and continue on with your day.
People make a lot of mistakes with charging lithium batteries, and batteries already cause a constant anxiety about keeping them charged.
