Best battery life phones 2025 – Plus how to make your phone battery last longer
In the last 20 years, mobile phones have come on leaps and bounds. The brick phones that were standard at the turn of the century are unrecognisable next to today’s AI-powered smartphones. But in terms of battery life, today’s models are actually behind the likes of the Nokia 3310, which only needed charging once or twice a week.
Even today’s best battery life phone can’t match that. But some models are getting close, being able to last two full days between charges – very impressive, considering all the advanced features and connectivity they offer.
Given how much we rely on our phones now, a long battery life is no longer a luxury – it’s essential. If your phone dies while you’re travelling, you won’t be able to access your train ticket, bank cards, maps, or get in touch with someone to let them know where you are… You could be stranded. So a good battery life phone is more important than ever.
If you’re wondering which phones have good battery life, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll showcase the best battery life phones, and show you how to save phone battery on your existing model. So you can get more hours of use without having to buy a new phone. You’ll never be stranded again.
Best battery life phones in 2025
Here we’ll run you down the phones with good battery life, breaking them down into the best overall, the best iPhone for battery life, the Android phone with the best battery life and the best mid-ranger. Something for everyone.
Top overall battery performer -Oppo Find X9 Pro
Battery size
7,500mAh
Release date
October 2025
Price
£1,099 (512GB)
Oppo Find X9 Pro specifications
- Display: 6.7-inch AMOLED (1272x2772; 120Hz)
- Chipset: MediaTek Dimensity 9500
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage: 512GB
- Rear cameras: 50MP main, 50MP ultrawide, 200MP 3x telephoto
- Front camera: 50MP
- Battery: 7,500mAh
- Operating System: Android
Oppo Find X9 Pro - Pros and cons
Huge battery
Powerful cameras
Great screen
Only one storage size
Only five years of Android updates
If you want the best battery life phone around, look no further than the Oppo Find X9 Pro. Its battery is a massive 7,500mAh – to put that in context, most flagships have a battery around 5,000mAh.
That translates to around two full days of use, and without scrimping. Use the battery saver feature, and you can easily slip into a third day of use without having to recharge. Even with heavy use, we found ourselves with over 60 per cent battery remaining at the end of the day. Phenomenal.
Charging is another highlight. 80W wired charging takes the battery from flat to full in around 40 minutes, and while the 50W wireless charging is slower, it’s still superior to most of the competition. You can also use the Oppo Find X9 Pro to wirelessly charge accessories like wireless headphones – just place them on the back of the device.
Chinese brand Oppo might not be a household name, but it’s one of the five biggest smartphone makers by volume in the world. And the Find X9 Pro could raise its profile on these shores.
It has plenty going for it besides a huge battery. It’s a looker, being milled from aerospace-grade aluminium with a smooth, continuous curvature that’s colour-matched to the phone’s body. The cameras are excellent, being made in conjunction with camera maker Hasselblad. It’s one of the most robust phones around, being resistant to dust, submersion in water and high-pressure water jets, and with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protecting the glass screen.
The screen itself is a beauty, with outstanding colour accuracy, and at 6.7 inches it’s at the sweet spot of being big but not unwieldy. And for its camera system, Oppo has invested heavily in deeper colour calibration, dynamic range control, and tonal realism. Skin tones are warm and natural, and the 200MP periscope telephoto camera captures an astonishing level of detail even in dim lighting.
If you’re really serious about smartphone photography, you can buy an optional Hasselblad Teleconverter Kit to further extend its capabilities.
It’s a powerful phone too, running the ColorOS 16 skin atop the Android 16 operating system very smoothly.
Downsides? It only comes in one variant (512GB), and at £1,099, it will be too expensive for some. But given the power and endurance at hand, it’s worth every penny.
Best Android battery life phone - Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra
Battery size
5000mAh
Release date
February 2025
Price
£999 (256GB)
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra specifications
- Display: 6.9-inch QHD OLED (3120x1440; 120Hz)
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite
- RAM: 12GB
- Storage: 256GB/512GB/1TB
- Rear cameras: 200MP main, 50MP ultrawide, 10MP telephoto (3x optical zoom), 50MP 5x periscope telephoto
- Front camera: 12MP
- Battery: 5,000mAh
- Operating System: Android
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra - Pros and cons
Impressive battery life
Packed with AI
Great cameras
AI could be more personalised
Expensive
Rival Android phones might have bigger batteries, but the efficiency of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset helps make the Galaxy S25 Ultra among the Android phones with the best battery. Its 5,000mAh battery delivers up to 31 hours of video playback, according to Samsung, though that will vary depending on lots of factors like screen brightness, ambient temperature and so on. But it’s the longest-lasting Samsung phone ever made, which is quite an accolade.
In our review, we found it easily lasted all day with heavy usage, and well into a second day with light usage. Its 45W wired charging is bettered elsewhere, but as an Android experience with great battery life, the S25 Ultra is tough to top.
Its 6.9-inch screen is one of the best around – its bold, vivid colours and subtle shading make videos immersive, and its peak brightness of 2600 nits makes images visible even in bright sunlight. The screen is also bolstered by Corning Gorilla Armour 2, making it tough and hardwearing.
The S25 Ultra is one of the most accomplished AI phones around too, with artificial intelligence seeping into almost every aspect of the device, from calling and texting to video editing and internet searches. This is helped by the inclusion of the S Pen stylus, which adds even more AI functionality: convert your handwriting to typed text and your doodles to fine artwork masterpieces, edit photos, and effortlessly Circle to Search. It really helps the S25 Ultra stand out from rival smartphones.
Then there are the cameras. These are massively powerful, with a 200MP main sensor, 50MP ultrawide, 50MP 5x telephoto, 10MP 3x telephoto, and a 12MP front camera. The results are stunning: packed with detail, bursting with vivid colours and texture. It particularly excels in low light, which is handy during the darker winter months.
With all these features to play with, it’s a good job it offers such a long battery life. One of the best battery life phones available right now.
Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra deals
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Best iPhone for battery life - Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max
Battery size
40823mAh
Release date
September 2025
Price
£1,199 (256GB)
Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max specifications
- Display: 6.9-inch OLED (1320x2868; 120Hz)
- Chipset: Apple A19 Pro
- RAM: 12GB
- Storage: 256GB/512GB/1TB/2TB
- Rear cameras: 48MP main, 48MP ultrawide, 48MP 8x telephoto
- Front camera: 18MP
- Battery: 4,823mAh
- Operating System: iOS
iPhone 17 Pro Max - Pros and cons
Outstanding battery life
Excellent cameras
Extremely powerful
Expensive
AI-powered Siri still hasn’t arrived
A quick glance at the specs might leave you puzzled. Hang on, you’re probably thinking, doesn’t the iPhone 17 Pro Max have the smallest battery here? It does, but as ever with Apple, you have to look beyond the on-paper specs. There’s a reason Apple doesn’t publicise the capacity of its iPhone batteries – because the number only tells half the story.
Indeed, it’s a testament to Apple’s engineering efficiency that it can wring 37 hours of video playback out of a battery capacity of under 5,000mAh. That’s with locally-stored video – it drops to 33 hours for streaming, but that’s still very impressive.
In our review, we found entire days went by without us having to charge. This could be as many as a few days, if we weren’t using the phone much. It was like going back in time to the turn of the century.
But there’s nothing early noughties about the rest of this phone. It performs absolutely brilliantly, whatever it’s tasked with. Games, 4K movies, video editing, none of them pose a problem as the Pro Max flies thanks to its A19 Pro chip partnered with 12GB of RAM.
The cameras are another highlight. Everyday snaps look stunning, but it’s also capable of delivering pro-like results for serious photographers. It has smarter low-light processing for capturing night shots, and impressive video tools, including ProRes, Dolby Vision and multi-camera capture. The telephoto lens has also jumped from 12MP on its predecessor to 48MP, giving you great zoomed-in shots.
The screen is a joy, and thanks to its resilient battery, watching videos over 5G only drains about 5 per cent juice every 40 minutes. And using Apple’s 40W adapter, you can fast charge from zero to 50 per cent capacity in just 20 minutes. Handy for a quick charge before you step out the door.
iPhone 17 Pro Max deals
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Best mid-range battery performer - OnePlus 13R
Battery size
6000mAh
Release date
January 2025
Price
£679 (256GB)
OnePlus 13R specifications
- Display: 6.7-inch OLED (1264x2780; 120Hz)
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
- RAM: 12GB
- Storage: 256GB
- Rear cameras: 50MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 50MP 2x telephoto
- Front camera: 16MP
- Battery: 6,000mAh
- Operating System: Oxygen OS (based on Android)
OnePlus 13R - Pros and cons
Impressive battery life
Relatively affordable
100W fast charging
Only one configuration
No wireless charging
Oxygen OS might take some getting used to
OnePlus might have strayed over the years from its original mission, but the 13R sees it doing what it does best – creating mid-range phones with flagship-slaying specs. And that’s especially true when it comes to the battery.
The 6,000mAh unit in the 13R is bigger than most rival phones, even some of those costing twice as much. In our review, we found it delivered a solid two days of use before needing a recharge – even heavy use sees it make it through the day before needing some plug time. It charges up super quickly thanks to the 80W SUPERVOOC tech, which gifts you full capacity in just 26 minutes. That’s outstanding for a phone this price.
Speaking of price, it usually costs £679, but it has fallen to £429 in the sales. Incredible value.
Though it lacks wireless charging, it has fewer compromises than previous ‘R’ variants. It benefits from the addition of a telephoto lens, for instance, though the cameras still lag behind proper flagship rivals. That is to be expected given the price difference, and for the money, the photos are still very decent, being especially strong in low-light conditions. Colours remain consistent with the main wide angle camera, though fine detail tends to suffer.
But you can’t complain about the performance. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, wedded to 12GB of RAM, makes for blisteringly fast performance, with apps, movies and games loading in double-quick time and running glitch-free.
It runs OnePlus’ own Oxygen OS (based on Android), which might take some getting used to if you’re used to straight Android or iOS. And you only get four years of Android updates, where rivals offer as many as seven years (though you do get six years of security updates).
Still, with a killer 120Hz OLED screen and long-lasting battery life, this is the best battery life phone in the mid-range.
How to make your phone battery last longer
Of course ,buying one of these phones with good battery life is a surefire way to get more screentime out of your handset. But you don’t need to buy a new phone – you can help your current model last longer with these tips on how to save phone battery.
Turn off background apps
Apps that run in the background can really sap your battery life, especially if they’re constantly sending and/or receiving information like your GPS location or streaming music or video. Find which are running and quit them to turn them off. If you need them, you can always open them again.
Reduce screen brightness
Most screens automatically adjust so they’re easy to read in the ambient lighting around you, but if you don’t need to see what’s on screen, you can always turn down the brightness. On a sunny day, your screen will crank up the brightness, so dialling it down is an easy way to conserve phone battery.
Use power-saving modes
If you’re really wondering how to make a battery last longer, a power-saving mode is the answer. These do greatly reduce your phone’s functionality, so you might notice reduced performance and network speed, and reduced functionality like background activity. But if you really need to wring some more juice out of your phone, this is a lifesaver.
Limit location/GPS use
GPS can be a real drain, as it involves the phone constantly communicating with satellites to determine its location. Unless you need directions, once you have looked up an address, you should close the mapping app in order to shut off the phone’s GPS signal. You can also delve into the menu and deactivate location services to stop it from starting up again.
Avoid extreme temperatures
Extreme heat and cold sap your phone’s juice by affecting the chemical reactions within the lithium-ion battery. Simple measures like keeping your phone out of direct sunlight and not placing it on cold surfaces can keep your phone running for longer.
Why Some Phones Last Longer Than Others
There are two main factors affecting a phone’s battery life: the size of the battery and how efficiently it runs.
A bigger battery will hold more charge and so will last longer. But more mAh (milliampere-hours) doesn’t necessarily guarantee a longer battery life. Sometimes a smaller battery can last for longer if the phone’s processor and graphics chip are optimised to run more efficiently. So a lot comes down to how the phone’s innards are fine-tuned.
Other factors that have a smaller – but still significant – effect include the screen size and brightness, what kind of content it’s showing (fast, colourful and processor-intensive content like hi-res videos and games will sap the battery much faster than static content like text), which features are being used, and even the audio volume (louder will drain the battery faster).
