The $1,299 Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra is a phone that does a lot, and with its massive 6.9-inch screen there's a lot to power here. So how long does it last on a charge? Based on our testing, the Note 20 Ultra's endurance is very good, but it's not as great as we hoped.
The Note 20 Ultra packs a 4,500 mAh battery, which is not as large as the 5,000 mAh pack in the even more premium $1,399 Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. So we didn't expect it to last as long as that phone. But the Note 20 Ultra did trail the OnePlus 8 Pro which has a slightly larger battery and costs $400 less.
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Galaxy Note 20 Ultra battery life vs other phones
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Battery life (hrs:minutes) | Battery size |
| Galaxy Note 20 Ultra (60Hz/120Hz) | 10:26/7:59 | 4,500 mAh |
| OnePlus 8 Pro (60Hz/120Hz) | 11:05/9:02 | 4,510 mAh |
| Galaxy S20 Ultra (60Hz/120Hz) | 11:58/9:13 | 5,000 mAh |
| Galaxy S20 Plus (60Hz/120Hz) | 10:31/8:55 | 4,500 mAh |
| iPhone 11 Pro Max | 11:54 | 3,969 mAh |
| iPhone 11 | 11:16 | 3,190 mAh |
| Galaxy Note 10 Plus | 10:47 | 4,300 mAh |
| Google Pixel 4a | 8:55 | 3,140 mAh |
We ran the Tom's Guide battery test on the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, which involves continuous web surfing at 150 nits of screen brightness over cellular (in this case 5G). Whenever possible we try to use T-Mobile's 5G network for consistency.
The Galaxy Note 20 Ultra lasted a solid 10 hours and 26 minutes. That's a good runtime, but all of the handsets on our best phone battery life list last more than 11 hours.
The Note 20 Ultra's battery life dipped by 2.5 hours once we engaged the 120Hz display mode. This is in line with what we've seen from other phones with 120Hz displays. And although the Note 20 Ultra has a dynamic display that can sale the refresh rate up or down depending on the content, web surfing is a particularly harsh activity. Plus, many sites now auto-play videos.
Note 20 Ultra vs OnePlus 8 Pro vs iPhone 11 Pro
By comparison, the OnePlus 8 Pro lasted a longer 11 hours and 5 minutes on our test in 60Hz mode and 9:02 in 120Hz mode. And this is with a 4,510 mAh battery that's only slightly larger than the one inside the Note 20 Ultra.
The Galaxy S20 Plus was in the same ballpark as the Note 20 Ultra, which is not a surprise given that they have the same size 4,500 mAh battery. The S20 Plus lasted 10:31 at 60Hz but a considerably better 8:55 at 120Hz.
With its 5,000 mAh battery, the Galaxy S20 Ultra unsurprisingly lasted a much longer 11 hours and 58 minutes, a runtime that dipped to 9:13 in 120Hz mode.
The iPhone 11 Pro Max has a much smaller battery and that device endured for a longer 11 hours and 54 minutes. It has only a 60Hz display, so we couldn't test it in 120Hz mode. There have been rumors that the iPhone 12 Pro could feature a 120Hz panel, but the latest leaks suggest that may not happen.
Last year's Galaxy Note 10 Plus lasted 10 hours and 47 minutes with its 60Hz display, which is slightly better than the Note 20 Ultra.
Note 20 Ultra battery life: What about everyday use?
Anecdotally, the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra should be able to get you through a full day with juice left to spare, depending on how heavily you use it.
I unplugged the Note 20 Ultra around 9 a.m., and over a day of testing, I watched more than an hour of Umbrella Academy on Netflix, streamed Spotify with the screen on for an hour and a half and played about 40 minutes of Fortnite. I also used Twitter for nearly an hour, surfed the web and checked email, as well as snapped some photos.
At the end of the day I still had about 27% juice left at 9 p.m.. That's not bad.
The bottom line is that the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra delivers fairly strong battery life, but it's simply not as good as the longest-lasting phones.
