The addition of Galaxy AI to the Galaxy S24 lineup is perhaps garnering the most attention right now. But as I spend more time with the Galaxy S24 in preparation for my full review of the standard model, it’s the battery life that really impresses me.
Our customized battery test forces each phone to surf the Internet over cellular networks until it runs out of power. A regular phone can last about 10 hours. The Galaxy S24 lasted 13 hours and 28 minutes, which would place Samsung’s flagship on our list of best battery life for mobile phones.
In a way, I shouldn’t be surprised. Our battery test for the Galaxy S24 Ultra also produced excellent results: Samsung’s premium device lasted around 17 hours. It’s pretty clear that Samsung – and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset that powers the S24 range – has figured out how to squeeze every last ounce of performance out of a fully charged device with the flagship phones in this range.
But then the Galaxy S24 Ultra has a big advantage over the Galaxy S24. The Ultra’s larger frame provides more space for a larger battery. In fact, Samsung uses a 5,000mAh power pack in the Galaxy S24 Ultra, compared to the 4,000mAh cell in the standard S24.
Due to size limitations, the entry-level Galaxy S often struggles to match the battery life of its larger siblings. Last year, the Galaxy S23 achieved a result of 10 hours and 27 minutes – about half an hour better than the average smartphone, but far behind the times of the Galaxy S23 Plus and Galaxy S23 Ultra.
Since the Galaxy S24 is essentially the same size as the S23, battery space is limited. And even though Samsung has switched to a larger power adapter for its new phone — the S23 is powered by a 3,900mAh battery — that slight bump alone doesn’t translate into a three-hour improvement in our battery test.
| telephone | Battery size | Battery test results (hours: minutes) |
| Samsung Galaxy S24 | 4.000 mAh | 13:28 |
| Samsung Galaxy S23 | 3.900 mAh | 10:27 |
| iPhone 15 Pro | 3.274 mAh | 10:53 |
| iPhone 15 | 3.349 mAh | 11:05 |
| Google Pixel 8 | 4.575 mAh | 9:43 |
| Asus Zenfone 10 | 4.300 mAh | 12:34 |
| Motorola Edge Plus (2023) | 5.100 mAh | 15:47 |
For this reason, we have to give credit to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that powers the Galaxy S24. Qualcomm says its new processor is more power efficient than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor used in the Galaxy S23 lineup, and the chipmaker clearly wasn’t kidding.
Of course, there’s a big caveat to these results that affects shipping of Galaxy S24 models outside of North America. These phones no It has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset – instead Samsung is relying on the Exynos 2400 to power the Galaxy S24 and S24 Plus in other parts of the world. (The Galaxy S24 Ultra doesn’t have this problem – it uses a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, regardless of where you buy this model.)
We haven’t received the Exynos-powered Galaxy S24 yet, so we don’t know if this model will have the same endurance as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 version. In the past, Exynos-powered Galaxy phones were a step or two behind their Snapdragon counterparts.
However, it’s exciting to see how well the Galaxy S24 performs in battery tests, especially after previous smaller phones struggled to deliver long-lasting performance. Since the Galaxy S24 Plus also scored great in our tests – lasting just 16 hours with adaptive refresh rate enabled – it’s pretty clear that if you want to last all day without a charge, you’ll need to cycle through the entire S24 range.
