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Samsung phones can survive twice as many charges as Pixel and iPhone, according to EU data
(www.androidauthority.com)
this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2025
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I'm at 943 cycles on my Pixel 6 Pro and it's still going strong. I slow charge it every night and try to avoid fully draining the battery to slow down the deterioration, which seems to have worked pretty well. Thankfully a battery replacement is only $50 so it won't cost much when I do have to replace it.
Yeah I've got a P7 Pro and the battery is still fine. Adaptive charging enabled to help batter life.
Handed my P6 down to my daughter and it's still fine for her too
Where can you see charge cycles?
Settings -> About phone -> Battery information
I don't see that menu option. I do see Settings -> Battery but it does not count cycles.
Pixel 4a Android 14
Doesn't show charge cycles for me, sadly. Samsung A52
Hmm, might be a Pixel / GrapheneOS thing.
I had the same phone, and the only reason I replaced it was because the USB C port was finicky. It must have been damaged at some point and when plugged in, the cable had to be just right. Wireless charging works great, but I wanted the stability of being able to plug in and know it would discharge over night when I didn't have a wireless charger. Otherwise, I had no issues with the battery, and I got the phone when it was pretty new to the market. I swapped it out just a few months back, and it's going to be my test phone for grapheneOS and may end up being a communal remote.
(Not saying this was your case, but generally good to check) - a finicky/wobbly USB type c connector has been a symptom of a dirty charging port several times in the past. Awful lint/dirt would get packed down into it, preventing the charger from fully inserting.
I ended up carefully and gently picking it out, though there are some delicate small contacts in there!
Anyway, good luck trying GrapheneOS! It's been my daily driver for months and past the learning experience it's great!
pixel also has the bad exonys chip that drains thier battery pretty fast. im using a oneplus12r right now, and it has 2 days of batteries if intensive usage(no gaming).
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1,000 charge cycles: OnePlus 13
Hmm. This one has newer silicone-carbon lithium-ion batteries, which should actually increase charge cycles, so what's happening here?
Isn't one plus one of the brands that has their own fast charging tech, that's extra fast?
Makes total sense if they traded in longevity for speed.
Isn’t one plus one of the brands that has their own fast charging tech, that’s extra fast?
Yes, but...
OnePlus offloads heat to the charger, so the phone actually doesn't get hot while charging. This fact alone would IMPROVE charge cycles, even at fast speeds.
But OnePlus also uses quite a few "tricks" to preserve battery health. Did the test include those features or did they turn them off. And if they turned them off, did they do the same with the Samsung phones (which have similar battery-health preserving options)?
I've had my OP13 since the day it came out (around 5-6 months) and keep it charged to 80% (built-in feature) and only charge it to 100% when I'll be out for the day and need to use GPS with max screen brightness. Battery health is still 100%.
I've owned a lot of Samsung phones before that, and the battery health was the only reason I've needed to replace them. So, I'm glad to see that the EU is taking charge cycles into account.
One piece of the puzzle that the numbers don't mention, is that the smaller battery of the Samsung phones means you'll be charging more often (i.e. more charge cycles) vs. something like a OP13 with a larger battery and excellent battery life (i.e. fewer charge cycles for the same use). Maybe that balances things out, but I'm still shocked that Sammy can get 1000 more charge cycles, which is YEARS more battery health than the other brands.
edit: clarity
OnePlus offloads heat to the charger
Some of it. They omit some circuitry that would have generated additional heat in the phone, and have it in the charger instead, but that doesn't magically mean the battery itself wont generate the inevitable heat caused by being charged faster. The battery itself only accepts one voltage, so the only way to charge it faster is amps.
And my feeling is that they aren't using the gains from this to make the batteries last, as SUPERVOOC is faster than pretty much every other standard. That makes me think they turned in any and all gains in battery health, for speed.
Most chargers send the additional energy via the cable in the form of extra voltage, because that doesn't require a special cable. Turning that voltage into amps in the phone produces a little bit of extra heat, but that doesn't mean that by eliminating that step, you get none from the battery itself as it charges. You can technically charge with a higher voltage, if you set up a phone such that it has more than one lithium cell. Some phones do this, but this doesn't require the OnePlus approach of using a special charger that provides a higher current, since any fast charger that can do the usual higher voltage method of providing extra power will work.
Like you say. I'm curious how they test this. Even if one battery gets more cycles, it'll degrade with time, as well. iPhones fast charge, too, but not with the chargers that used to come with the phones. You have to get one specifically for fast charging to get faster-than-normal charging.
Also, a tip. You may want to use something like AccuBattery to actually measure the state of the battery. Batteries, being chemical devices, have different capacities straight off the production line simply by virtue of not being chemically identically down to every molecule. (My Xperia 1 V unfortunately came with 93% design capacity, still within manufacturing tolerance, but the lowest I've seen on a new battery, it can be a bit of a lottery)
The built-in battery health monitor will just say "all good" until it isn't. AccuBattery has allowed me to monitor every percentage of degradation over the lives of my last few phones.
And my feeling is that they aren’t using the gains from this to make the batteries last, as SUPERVOOC is faster than pretty much every other standard. That makes me think they turned in any and all gains in battery health, for speed.
There is a setting to explicitly benefit from using an official charger and cable, but I don't know if it's on by default (it's disabled on my phone).
That said, the heat while charging is about the same as the heat from holding the phone in my hand (around 38C), and doesn't get much hotter than that while gaming thanks to pass-through charging.
My Samsung was definitely hotter, and would overheat if charging while doing anything like GPS navigation. But my last Samsung was a Note 10+, and so things may have very well changed since then.
You may want to use something like AccuBattery
Already do, and have for years.
But AccuBattery doesn't seem to play nice with the OP13, with many users reporting lower battery health from the start (80-90%), and inaccurate capacity (<1000 mAh less than the designed capacity).
Coupled with the fact that it's only accurate if you are constantly charging from below 15% to 100%, these are ranges that I rarely get my phone into.
Even though battery longevity is important to me, since I no longer replace my phones "every year", it really would be best if these damn things had user-replaceable batteries that were readily available. 😫
around 38C
I was shocked when my new realme, which uses the same tech, didn't even break 30°C while charging at 8+ Amps (should be around 80W). This was in a relatively warm room (25°C) and using the case that came with it, which surely doesn't improve thermals. It gets warmer when charging from other sources with only 2-3A, like USB-PD or QuickCharge.
Coupled with the fact that it's only accurate if you are constantly charging from below 15% to 100%, these are ranges that I rarely get my phone into.
AccuBattery needs a session to have 60% charged, so <20% to 80% works. Doesn't need to be every single one. I actually asked support about it and they said this was the lowest percentage they were comfortable with. I was requesting to make it adjustable.
Accuracy of the measurement isn't the entire point. I see the same issue, but since it helps track relative degradation over time it can still add value by giving more information when you suspect the capacity is getting worse.
I was shocked when my new realme, which uses the same tech, didn’t even break 30°C while charging at 8+ Amps (should be around 80W). This was in a relatively warm room (25°C) and using the case that came with it
That's impressive. I'm looking at my phone now, not charging, but the screen is on, and it's at 33C. LOL
AccuBattery needs a session to have 60% charged, so <20% to 80% works. Doesn’t need to be every single one.
It's rare for me to get that low, even while charging to 80%. 😵
But yeah, every so often I'll let it drain, then do a 100% charge to see what's up. I don't like doing that, because even Accubattery says that takes up more of a charge cycle than charging conservatively.
I do like the trend chart, although, the battery health on that actually went UP 5% between March and May 😱
Xiaomi has faast charge, and it (33watt) has worked both fast and reliable on my 4-5 year old note 9 pro phone. I just changed to a 13tp with 120 watt, let's see how that pans out 🔥😋
Wow. This is excellent for Samsung users.
I believe these are just claims rather than actual tests or measurements right?
Apparently not
the new labels is tested using the same software used by many tech reviewers: SmartViser. This French automation company works with labs and manufacturers to simulate real-world usage. So now, the battery performance you see on the label is based on consistent, lab-tested data, not just marketing claims.
the actual legislation is not that specific as far as i can tell:
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX%3A32023R1669#anx_I
Article 5
Measurement methods
The information to be provided pursuant to Articles 3 and 4 shall be obtained by reliable, accurate and reproducible measurement and calculation methods, which take into account the recognised state-of-the-art measurement and calculation methods, as set out in Annex IV.
Article 6
Verification procedure for market surveillance purposes
Member States shall apply the verification procedure laid down in Annex IX when performing the market surveillance checks referred to in Article 8(3) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1369.
They also say this:
In the absence of relevant standards and until the publication of the references of the relevant harmonised standards in the Official Journal of the European Union, the transitional testing methods set out in Annex IVa, or other reliable, accurate and reproducible methods, which take into account the generally recognised state-of-the-art methods, shall be used.
So I remain hopeful.
Let's hope Samsung didn't take a page from good ole VW's book.
But... Samsung also needs twice as many charges because for whatever reason, their batteries simply don't last as long. Timewise, you get the same lifetime, from both. What good does a larger charging count bring, if you need to charge it twice as much? Misleading spec.
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