Apple touts that the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max have a better battery life compared to the iPhone X. The former is supposed to run for 30 minutes longer and the latter for 90 minutes. Its claims were recently put to the test in a new report which compares the handsets to their predecessor and other Android flagships.
Tom’s Guide put all the devices on a screen brightness of 150 nits and switched off auto-brightness and True Tone in the iPhones. It then put each of them through a continuous 4G web surfing test. Surprisingly, the new iPhones couldn’t catch up with the older iPhone X.
iPhone X vs iPhone XS vs iPhone XS Max
The iPhone X lasted for 10 hours and 49 minutes (in last year’s test), the iPhone XS for 9 hours and 41 minutes, and the iPhone XS Max for 10 hours and 38 minutes. As per certification listings, the first has a 2716mAh battery, the second a 2658mAh battery, and the third a 3174mAh battery.
Naturally, you’d expect the iPhone XS Max to perform better than the iPhone X since it has the largest battery of the bunch. They’re only 11 minutes apart though, so it’s not too big of a difference. Plus, the Max has a much larger 6.5-inch OLED screen as compared to the iPhone X’s 5.8-inch OLED display.
Also Read: iPhone XS Max thrashes Samsung Galaxy Note 9 in speed tests
The iPhone XS has the smallest battery and is behind the iPhone X by about an hour. This is a bit disappointing, especially since Apple claims the newer smartphone can go on for up to 12 hours of internet usage. The company hasn’t revealed how it goes about checking battery life, so it’s possible its testing conditions are different from Tom’s Guide.
As for Android rivals, the Huawei P20 Pro reigned supreme with a battery life of 14 hours and 13 minutes. The Google Pixel 2 XL followed at 12 hours and 9 minutes. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 (11 hours and 26 minutes) and OnePlus 6 (11 hours and 22 minutes) were neck-to-neck.
Only the HTC U12+ (9 hours and 13 minutes) and LG G7 ThinQ (8 hours and 35 minutes) did worse than the iPhones. All-in-all, the iPhone XS Max is your best bet if you want the best battery life between the two new iPhones.