Galaxy S20, Plus and Ultra vs S10 battery life and charge times
If one of the things stopping you from getting a high-end Samsung phone is the middling battery life, compared to the competition from China, the company addresses that in the new S20, Plus and Ultra, and then some. At 4500mAh, the S20 series have the largest aggregate battery capacity of any S- or even Note line phones ever.
Record Galaxy S20 batteries are for 5G and 120Hz, not your YouTube session
- Galaxy S20 Ultra: 5000mAh (4855mAh rated minimum) battery, 70 minutes charge from 0-100% (45W)
- Galaxy S20 Plus: 4500mAh (4370mAh rated minimum battery, 75 minutes charge from 0-100% (25W)
- Galaxy S20: 4000mAh (3880mAh rated minimum) battery, 75 minutes charge from 0-100% (25W)
Samsung Galaxy S20 vs Plus vs S20 Ultra battery life and charging speed
All Galaxy S20 models are housing a battery surprise. For Samsung’s S-line standards, that is.
The 5G connectivity and the 120Hz display refresh are RAM and battery hogs, so Samsung had to up the ante in those departments. With QHD display resolution, though, don’t expect two-day battery life miracles, as Samsung itself admits it’s a “full-day battery” on all three phones.
These are the Galaxy S20 vs S20+ vs S20 Ultra battery life differences, according to Samsung:
- S20 Ultra: 37 hours talk time, 13 days stand-by, 73 hours speaker, 111 hours headset, 70 minutes charging
- S20 Plus: 34 hours talk time, 11 days stand-by, 66 hours speaker, 102 hours headset, 75 minutes charging
- S20: 28 hours talk time, 10 days stand-by, 59 hours speaker, 79 hours headset, 75 minutes charging
How did Samsung pull off the biggest upgrade in the S-line battery life department. A new cell-holding technology (PMP) allows for a much tighter and more compact arrangement of the battery cells compared to what Samsung is using for the Galaxy S10 models, whose packs still require a holder case.
Galaxy S20 battery technology
The pleasant side effect of using PMP for the Galaxy S20 batteries is that the overall size of the package can shrink by up to 57%, allowing for much larger capacities, a smaller battery footprint leaving space for other stuff inside the phone, or a combination thereof.
The Galaxy S20 Ultra, for instance, has a giant 108MP sensor and a bunch of other camera-related stuff in a huge cooktop plate at the back, and still managed to fit a 5000mAh unit in it, the largest that Samsung has ever placed in an S-line phone.
Samsung Galaxy S20 and Ultra battery life vs the S10 series
Thus, the Galaxy S20 series is very likely to have much longer battery life in aggregate, compared to its S10 series predecessors, and not only thanks to the larger batteries. The reasoning is that they run on more efficient processors and use a newer, more frugal OLED display tech.
Galaxy S10 series | Galaxy S20 series |
---|---|
3100mAh (Galaxy S10e) | 4000mAh (Galaxy S20) |
3400mAh (Galaxy S10) 4100mAh (S10+) |
4500mAh (Galaxy S20+) |
4300mAh (Note 10+) 4500mAh (S10 5G), |
5000mAh (Galaxy S20 Ultra) |
The listed talk and standby times, however, are better on the 2019 model, and the 5G modem might have something to do with this. Thus, we’ll have to wait for Samsung to fill in the blanks on the official Internet usage and video playback times for the S20 series when they launch, before a final comparison of the battery life stats against the S10 series.
For now, however, the larger batteries and more frugal chipsets of the S20 series are shaping a better endurance on a charge than their predecessors, and we can’t wait to run our battery tests on the S20 Ultra to gauge if Samsung has managed to pull off the most amazing battery life ever on an S-line or even Note series phone.