iPhone 7 Plus Crushes Samsung Galaxy S8+ in Battery Test

When it boils down to raw display specifications, Samsung’s recently unveiled Galaxy S8+ easily trumps Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus in almost every conceivable way. Not only does the S8+ feature a massively larger, more power-efficient 6.2-inch AMOLED display — in comparison to iPhone 7 Plus’ 5.5-inch IPS-LCD panel — but the former also boasts a litany of advanced features we could only hope will ultimately make their inaugural debut on Apple’s 10th anniversary iPhone 8, including wireless charging, IP68 water and dust-proof certification, a gorgeous edge-to-edge display, glass body, and so much more. Even the Li-Po battery pack embedded within the Galaxy S8+, at a sizable 3,500 mAh, is beefier than the iPhone 7 Plus’ 2,900 Li-Ion mAh battery.

Yet for all the Galaxy S8+ appears to bring to the table, and for as seemingly beastly and powerful as it is, there’s one area where Samsung’s latest flagship doesn’t quite live up to all the hype — in real-world battery performance. That’s according to a new batch of tests conducted by the folks over at PhoneArena, who compared the battery performance of Sammy’s Galaxy S8+ with a number of previous Galaxy flagships, as well as current flagships from Apple, Huawei, OnePlus and Google, respectively.

With display brightness set at a comfortable 200 nits across the board, PhoneArena’s testing involved the continuous loading of custom web scripts on all devices. Clocking in at a solid 8 hours, the S8+ easily out-performed a number of competing models including Samsung’s previous Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge from last year, Google’s Pixel XL, the OnePlus 3T, and even Apple’s standard iPhone 7. However, at a comparatively higher 9 hours and 5 minutes, the S8+ was evidently no match for Apple’s iPhone 7 Plus — even though the latter’s battery is about 600 mAh smaller, it’s screen is more demanding on the battery, and not to mention, the iPhone 7 Plus is almost 6 months old now.

To be fair, Samsung was able to improve on the battery performance of last year’s Galaxy S7 Edge flagship, which, in comparison to the S8+’s solid 8 hours, clocked in at just 7 hours and 18 minutes. However, the S8+ just barely even passed the standard iPhone 7, which scored a reasonable 7 hours and 46 minutes even despite its paltry 1,960 mAh battery.

Certainly, the 8-hour battery performance of the S8+ is still respectable — especially considering the handset’s massive 6.2-inch AMOLED display at QHD resolution. But still, the reality that Apple’s middle-aged iPhone 7 Plus was able to give the young Galaxy a run for its money is perhaps just another reason why even the most die-hard Android users will ultimately delight in the prospect of a new iPhone.