If you want one of the best Android phones with a battery life to match flagship specs, look no further than the Samsung Galaxy S23 lineup.
Samsung's latest high-end phones pretty much beat out their respective Android rivals when it comes to our battery testing, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of screen brightness over 5G, with the phone's display set at 60Hz where applicable.
In their default adaptive mode, which scales the display between 48Hz and 120Hz for the standard and Plus modes, and 1Hz to 120Hz for the S22 Ultra, the Galaxy S23 managed 10 hours and 27 minutes before shutting down, the Galaxy S23 Plus hit 11 hours and 24 minutes, and the Galaxy S23 Ultra managed 12 hours and 22 minutes.
As you'll see from the table below, the Galaxy S23 phones basically outlast nearly all their respective Android rivals like the Google Pixel 7 for overall battery life. The OnePlus 11 beats the S22 Ultra when in its adaptive mode but falls behind when the display is set at 60Hz.
And all Galaxy S23 models beat their Galaxy S22 predecessors, clearly showing that Samsung has made some headway in terms of power efficiency and tapping into the capabilities of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.
But if you want the best phone battery life, then you'll need to go down the iOS route, with the iPhone 14 Pro Max lasting for an impressive 13 hours and 39 minutes with its adaptive 120Hz display. Clearly, Apple's custom A-series chips and tight control over software make for the most power-efficient phones.
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Battery size* | Battery life (hours:mins) |
| Galaxy S23 | 3,900 mAh | 10:27 (adaptive), 11:20 (60Hz) |
| Galaxy S23 Plus | 4,700 mAh | 11:24 (adaptive) |
| Galaxy S23 Ultra | 5,000 mAh | 12:22 (adaptive), 13:09 (60Hz) |
| iPhone14 | 3,279 mAh | 9:28 (60Hz) |
| iPhone 14 Plus | 4,325 mAh | 11:57 (60Hz) |
| iPhone 14 Pro | 3,200 mAh | 10:13 (120Hz adaptive) |
| iPhone 14 Pro Max | 4,323 mAh | 13:39 (120Hz adaptive) |
| OnePlus 11 | 5,000 mAh | 13:10 (adaptive), 12:48 (60Hz) |
| Google Pixel 7 | 4,355 mAh | 7:17 (Adaptive), 7:30 (60Hz) |
| Google Pixel 7 Pro | 5,000 mAh | 8:04 (Adaptive), 7:55 (60Hz) |
| Galaxy S22 | 3,700 mAh | 7:51 (adaptive), 8:02 (60Hz) |
| Galaxy S22 Plus | 4,500 mAh | 9:46 (adaptive), 9:57 (60Hz) |
| Galaxy S22 Ultra | 5,000 mAh | 9:50 (adaptive), 10:18 (60Hz) |
Of course, if you want a smartphone that'll last even longer than those above, you'll need to go for a gaming phone like the Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro, which managed a lengthy 15 hours and 30 minutes in our testing. But it has a 6,000 mAh battery, so that's to be expected. And the price of a longer battery life is a phone that can't compete in terms of photography or custom features.
If you don't fancy splashing the cash on a flagship phone but want impressive battery life, then the Moto G Power lasted 13 hours and 15 minutes in our testing, and it's only $199. Just bear in mind, you'd be compromising on specs, camera performance and display quality.
In short, we can fully recommend the likes of the Galaxy S23 and iPhone 14 Pro as phones that deliver flagship specs, features and performance, as well as impressive battery life but sit under the $1,000 mark (the Galaxy S23 is $799 and the iPhone 14 Pro is $999).
And for people with money to spend the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro Max are among the best phones you can buy right now, and should last you close to all day on a charge.
