Battery Performance of Galaxy S9 Falls Far Behind Rivals

(image: Samsung Electronics)

SEOUL, Apr. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — The battery performance of Samsung Electronics Co.’s Galaxy S9 smartphone trailed behind rival products, industry watchers said Monday, causing consumers to express discontent.

According to a report released by industry tracker Strategy Analytics, the Galaxy S9 ranked sixth among the seven premium smartphones checked in terms of battery performance.

The latest findings showed that the battery of the Galaxy S9 ran out in 26 hours and 52 minutes, compared with 32 hours and 35 minutes posted by the LG G6, produced by Samsung’s smaller South Korean rival LG Electronics Inc. China-based Huawei Technologies Co.’s P10 held a comparable figure of 32 hours and 8 minutes.

The top spot was captured by Japan-based Sony Corp.’s XZ2 at 36 hours and 1 minute, followed by the XZ2 Compact of the same company at 34 hours and 20 minutes. Oppo Electronics Corp.’s R11 had the weakest battery performance among top-of-the-line market devices at 16 hours and 36 minutes.

“Battery performance for all devices was measured by determining the length of time taken to fully empty the battery under a ‘typical user scenario,’” Strategy Analytics said.

The industry tracker said the scenario “specifies using the device for a period of approximately 16 hours over a 24-hour period for a basket of the most common tasks: calling, texting, web browsing, social media, games, camera, music and video.”

Phone Arena, another industry tracker, also said in its report that the battery of the Galaxy S9 lasted 7 hours and 23 minutes in its test, which is an hour below the Galaxy S8′s 8 hours and 22 minutes. Apple Inc.’s iPhone X and LG’s V30 held comparable figures of 8 hours and 41 minutes and 9 hours and 34 minutes, respectively.

Samsung Electronics has been refraining from expanding the battery capacity of flagship smartphones after the traumatic Galaxy Note 7 experience, where faulty batteries resulted in fires and explosions.

The problematic handset had a battery capacity of 3,500 mAh, while the later Galaxy Note 8 shipped with a 3,300 mAh battery. The Galaxy S9 came with a 3,000mAH battery, just like the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S8.

“Although the battery’s capacity is also important, the phone’s optimization algorithm is very crucial,” an industry insider said. “The Galaxy S9 came with various new features, which possibly led to more stand-by power consumption. (Samsung) may have failed to develop power-saving algorithms properly.”

The Galaxy S9, which retained most of the design aspects of its predecessor with minor changes such as relocating the fingerprint sensor, comes with improved camera-related features. The phone employs a variable aperture that can automatically or manually switch between F1.5 and F2.4.

(Yonhap)