We round-up and review the mobile phones with the longest battery life that you can buy right now, to keep you going well over 24 hours between charges.
Nobody likes seeing that power indicator dip into the red, and for phone addicts like us the longer we can stave off battery anxiety, the better. With that in mind, we’ve pieced together a list of phones offering the best battery life out of all of the handsets we’ve reviewed this year.
We’ll begin with premium-priced flagship mobiles and work our way down to more affordable options, so there’s something here to suit demanding users on any budget.
Premium phones with the best battery life
If you want top performance or a feature-packed blower, with no compromise when it comes to battery life, then the following handsets are for you. These premium, flagship models deliver solid specs and a great all-round user experience, plus well over a day of life on a single charge.
Google Pixel 2 XL
Ahead of its launch we were crazy excited about Google’s Pixel 2 XL, the larger model of the two most recent Pixel-branded handsets. After all, the original Pixel XL was one of the best blowers of its time; not too surprising from the father of Android.
Once we actually got our hands on the phone, the Pixel 2 XL proved its worth in terms of both performance and longevity. The well-sized 3500mAh battery paired to Android Oreo, which boasts respectable power efficiency, can handle up to two days of use on just a single charge. You’ll also impressively get many hours of life from just 15 minutes at the plug, thanks to the fast charge support.
Sadly not every other aspect of the Pixel 2 XL impressed us so. The display is decidedly dodgy and Oreo still seems half-baked in many respects, while that steep asking price is unforgivable these days.
Check out our full Google Pixel 2 XL review for our in-depth thoughts.
HTC U11
The HTC U11 is the company’s best flagship phone yet, offering a solid all-round user experience. Packed inside is the energy-efficient (yet still supremely powerful) Snapdragon 835 chipset and the results are very good indeed, in terms of battery life as well as performance.
Even with regular, quite heavy use, we always made it through a full day on a single charge and often past lunchtime the following day, before a charge was finally required. You of course get the usual battery saver modes on board too, in case you need a bit of extra life before eventually hitting the plug point.
Wander over to our HTC U11 review for all you need to know.
Samsung Galaxy Note 8
Samsung isn’t taking any chances when it comes to that battery stuffed inside of the Note 8. The Korean manufacturer has dropped the capacity compared to last year’s more combustible Note 7 down to 3300mAh, resulting in around a day and a half of regular use between charges. That’s more or less on-par with the equally capacious cell in the Galaxy S8 and S8+.
Thankfully, the Note 8 also includes fast wired and wireless charging, the latter of which continues to be a rarity in the current smartphone scene. That really helps the Note to stand apart from the crowd as far as battery tech is concerned.
LG G6
Although the LG G6 doesn’t offer the best battery life in this round-up, we’re still impressed that this mighty media machine gives over a day of full-on use per charge. That 5.7-inch screen boasts some of the latest display tech including Dolby Vision HDR support, for eye-punching visuals. Yet we still comfortably made it to the end of the day every time, even with a good bit of video streaming involved.
If you’re off on your travels and you need a device to keep you entertained, the G6 certainly delivers. Few premium mobiles offer the same excellent battery life.
Tempted? Have a read of our full LG G6 review for more info.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro
Huawei’s Mate 10 Pro phablet launched at the end of 2017 and served as the perfect alternative to the much pricier Samsung Galaxy Note 8. This feature-rammed phone boasts Huawei’s latest Kirin 970 chipset and a gargantuan 4000mAh battery, which in combination deliver up to two full days of life.
The company’s own SuperCharge fast-charging tech is also present and it’s now safety certified by TÜV Rheinland, intended to give peace of mind to phone-lovers who still remember the horrors of that exploding Galaxy Note 7 debacle.
Check out our full Huawei Mate 10 Pro review for more.
OnePlus 5T
While the OnePlus 5T isn’t quite perfect, this feature-packed smartphone does offer a competitive flagship experience for significantly less cash than the competition. Killer performance, enjoyable software, dependable camera tech and some sleek edge-to-edge design make for a great handset, even for the most demanding of users. All of that from £449, making it cheaper than the above blowers.
You can expect a day and a half of battery life before hitting the charging cable again, as well as some of the best fast-charging technology on the market in Dash Charge. This powers up the OP5T in no time at all, while keeping the phone cool (to prevent long-term damage).
Check out our OnePlus 5T review for all you need to know about this great-value flagship handset.
Honor 9
Even more affordable than the OnePlus 5 is the Honor 9, which impresses in pretty much every area despite costing under £400. Not bad at all for a flagship device.
With the Honor 9 fully charged at the start of the day, I could use it regularly for snapping photos, checking messages, streaming media and jumping online. Come bedtime, the phone was still far from empty. A full charge often gave a day and a half of use, which is only shortened by seriously intensive tasks.
When the phone does die, you can power it back up in a jiffy using Huawei’s own fast charge tech. This is a strong rival to OnePlus’ Dash Charge and Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0, which does a great job of keeping the Honor 9 cool while filling the battery in less than 90 minutes.
Our Honor 9 review reveals everything else about this affordable flagship.
Mid-range and affordable phones with the best battery life
Not quite got the cash to splash on the above handsets? Well, you can still get good battery life, no matter your budget. Here’s our pick of those more affordable smartphones which still offer depenable use away from the plug.
Moto Z2 Play
Although this phone isn’t quite as premium as the Moto Z2 Force, it’s still a very enticing blower thanks to its respectable specs and that modular-style design.
The Snapdragon 626 platform puts plenty of pep in the Z2 Play’s step when handling everyday tasks like web browsing, photo editing and multitasking, with a beefy enough GPU to keep more demanding 3D games running at an enjoyable clip for the most part.
As for longevity, Motorola had to pack a smaller cell inside the slimmer-framed Z2 Play compared with the original Z Play mobile. Thankfully, despite that trade-off, you can still expect excellent battery life from this phone.
The Z2 Play can survive a day of heavy use with juice to spare, or cover almost two days of lighter use per charge. What’s more, the Moto Mods family is yet again able to augment the phone’s built-in battery with an additional power pack, which shares in the phone’s native Turbo Power fast charge functionality. There’s even a new wireless charging enabled Style Shell on offer, if you want to snip those wires altogether.
Our Moto Z2 Play review has all you need to know.
Moto G5 Plus
If you’re after a budget blower that offers long battery life, the Moto G5 Plus should be one of your first points of focus.
This handset boasts some great features, including a very capable 12-megapixel camera with Dual Pixel Autofocus – the kind of smart tech found on Samsung’s flagship phones. Despite this, the G5 Plus only costs £250, making it much more affordable than premium devices.
That fantastic all-round user experience thankfully stretches to the battery life too. The 3000mAh cell gives enough power to keep going for around two days, with plenty of use. That includes regular messaging, some media streaming, occasional calls and a fair bit of web browsing.
When it comes to powering up again, the G5 Plus is pretty nippy too. The Turbo Charge feature means just half an hour at the plug is enough for a full day of operation.
Take a look at our full Moto G5 Plus review for all you need to know.
Sony Xperia XA1
For around the same price point as the Moto G5 Plus, you can also grab the Sony Xperia XA1. This impressive budget mobile lasts well into a second day on a single charge, or even a full 48 hours if you don’t hammer it non-stop. That result is bettered by next to no rivals; besides perhaps the next phone on our best battery life round-up.
The Xperia XA1 also supports quick charging, so you can quickly power it back up. Sony’s phone packs in the Qnovo Adaptive Charging tech too. This ensures that the battery doesn’t overcharge, which could damage the cell and impact longevity over time.
Read our full Sony Xperia XA1 review.
Honor 7X
This brilliant blower costs under £300, yet offers seriously strong value for money. One of the highlights is a mighty 6-inch Full HD screen, which you might think saps the battery life in no time at all. However, Honor has crammed in a sizeable 3340mAh cell, which can keep you going for well over a day even with regular use. It’s just a shame that there’s no support for fast charging too.
Head on over to our Honor 7X review to see the other reasons for picking up this excellent handset. We gave it a full five stars, so there’s lots of positives beyond the great battery life.
Lenovo P2
If even the Xperia XA1 and the Moto G5 Plus are a shade out of your budget, check out the Lenovo P2 – the only phone here packing an asking price under £200. This handset might not have the slickest looks or best camera, but it offers comparable performance to the more sophisticated Moto Z Play and features the biggest integrated battery of the whole list.
There’s an unprecedented 5100mAh cell lurking under this phone’s metal skin and it ensures that you can consistently reach up to three days of use between charges. Fast charging takes a little longer as you might expect, but you can still juice up this affordable handset in under two hours.
The only problem is that you might struggle to find the Lenovo P2 these days, unless you track it down second hand.
Check out our full Lenovo P2 review for all the details.