Premium flagship phones are usually great all-rounders. However, experience has taught some of us that they do not always have good battery life. If being able to use your smartphone for extended periods without needing to look for a charger is important to you, you are welcome to my list of the top premium flagship phones with the best battery life.
So we are on the same page, this list includes only premium flagship smartphones. But that is not all, this list includes only those premium flagship with the best battery life. It isn’t just about good battery life. The phones included in my list below have exemplary battery performance. You won’t have to worry about suddenly running out of juice in a few hours of usage.
As a rule, smartphones with the best battery life tend to be found among mid range models. If you want the best battery life overall in all kinds of phones, the mid range market is where to look. You will find phones like Sony Xperia 10 V, Samsung Galaxy A34, and Motorola Moto G82.
The interesting thing is that the phones listed as premium flagship phones with the best battery life in this article come pretty close to matching those overall battery life champs. As a matter of fact, the top two phones in this list are among the overall best battery performance devices in existence today, outside of rugged and infustrial smartphones with massive battery capacity like 6000mAh and 7000mAh or more.
I must say here that the size of the battery is not the only factor that determines smartphone battery life. It is a factor, but other factors include: display size and technologies, processor/chipset, and software optimization. Let me explain these briefly.
Key Factors That Determine The Battery Life Of Phones
Display: A smartphone’s display has been proven to be the biggest power guzzler. We all want bigger screens, but the bigger the screen, the greater the battery drain. But it isn’t only about size: the more advanced features a display has, the greater the power it will consume, all other things being equal. So, a display with 144Hz refresh rate, for example, will drain the phone’s battery faster than a display with 120Hz refresh rate, all other things being equal. Add HDR10 support, Always-on display, etc, and smartphone displays just can’t stop drawing juice.
Processor/chipset: Again, all other things being equal, the more powerful a processor is, the more oower it consumes. Think of fast cars: they burn through fuel faster than regular cars, because they have those powerful engines under the hood. The need for speed is a big power drain, whether it is in cars or in smartphones. I am sure you get the picture.
Software Optimization: This is another huge factor that determines the battery life of smartphones. How well each manufacturer optimizes the hardware with the software will determine how much battery drain happens in that phone.
All of these factors and more play a key role in determining battery performance. Interlude over; let’s get back to the subject at hand.
Simply put, it is hard to find much better battery life among regular smartphones than what is obtainable from the premium flagship phones with the best battery life listed on this page. That said, I should also point out to you that there are some devices that are known for poor battery life and you should stay away from them if you want a premium device whose battery lasts and lasts. Let’s have a look at them.
Premium Flagship Phones With Poor Battery Life
If you want exemplary battery life in a premium flagship smartphone, stay away from foldable phones; battery life is their biggest weakness. They all have poor battery performance and will leave you out of juice in hours. Stay away from foldables; these types:
Whether it is one from Samsung, Motorola, OnePlus, OPPO, or whoever else, foldables do not come close to being premium flagship phones with the best battery life. Stay away from them.
What other smartphones should you stay away from? Pixel phones! Pixel phones have a track record of poor battery life. Buying a Pixel smartphone means you have no interest in premium flagship phones with the best battery life.
Some years ago, I would have included Apple iPhones in this category of premium flagship phones with poor battery life. Dear Lord, iPhone battery performance used to be appalling. As a matter of fact, the popular joke around iPhone owners was that they couldn’t go anywhere without taking their charging cable along. They were perpetually chained to a wall. Thankfully, that has changed. The iPhone X generation was the last set of iPhones with piss-poor battery life. The iPhone 11 line-up began the new generation of iPhones with dependable battery life, and it has gotten better since then. So, iPhones are off the hook. Foldable phones and Google Pixel smartphones are the main culprits now.
Don’t forget it: the existing crop of foldable devices and the existing crop of Google Pixel smartphones all have unimpressive battery life. This is not a diss; this is facts. You can buy those devices for a number of reasons, but battery life will not be one of them. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s jump right into the meat of this article.
Table of Contents
List Of Flagship Phones With the Best Battery Life
This list starts from the bottom and ends with the very topmost premium flagship with the best battery life. All of these premium flagship smartphones have great battery life; some are just better (and in some cases, much better) than others.
Motorola Moto Edge 40 Pro
The Moto Edge 40 Pro is a proper premium flagship sporting a 6.67-inch OLED screen with 165Hz refresh rate (that is quite higher than 120Hz which is what we see as standard in most premium flagships), Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 4600mAh camera, and 125W fast wired charging. The phone comes with options of 8GB and 12GB RAM, as well as 256GB and 512Gb storage.
It has all the standard bells and whistles you could ask for and sells for $855 in the United States, £721 in the United Kingdom, €748 in Germany, and Rs. 80,930 in India.
This makes the Moto Edge 40 Pro one of the most affordable of the top premium flagship phones with the best battery life. I call it a sweet bargain. Unfortunately, Motorola smartphones don’t sell as widely as they once used to, so if you are located outside these core markets, it might be difficult getting your hands on one.
One thing that lets Motorola smartphones down, though, is software support. Motorola is simply whack when it comes to Android software updates, which can leave a sour taste in the mouth if you are keen on having your phone up-to-date for some years.
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
The battery life of iPhones have improved tremendously in recent years. Before now, it would have been impossible to find an iPhone on a list of this nature, but here we are with the iPhone 15 Pro Max taking 4th place in a list of the top premium flagship phones with the best battery life.
Its 4441mAh battery is decent for the 6.7-inch OLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate and Apple A16 Pro chipset. Battery charging is still on the low side, though, with about the equivalent of 27W fast wired charging.
There are three memory variants available for the iPhone 15 Pro Max – 8/256GB, 8/512GB, and 8GB/1TB. The price starts from $1,430 in the United States, £1,199 in the United Kingdom, €1,449 in Germany, and Rs. 160,000 in India, for the base variant.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max
The iPhone 14 Pro Max might be a year old now, buy it is a battery champion in the premium flagship category, and it sits side-by-side its successor. So, if you are unable to get your hands on the 15 Pro Max, the iPhone 14 Pro Max is as good when it comes to battery life. This is despite the older Apple A16 Bionic processor and the slightly smaller battery capacity.
Its price starts from $904 in the United States, £749 in the United Kingdom, €992 in Germany, and Rs. 150,000 in India.
Whether you buy the 15 Pro Max or the 14 Pro Max, you will enjoy Apple’s excellent software update support. It has been unmatched for years, though Google’s announced 7-year update support for the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro now surpasses it.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
In number two spot is the Galaxy S23 Ultra, Samsung’s big daddy for the year. The delicious 6.8-inch Super AMOLED is kept alive by a whopping 5000mAh battery. That’s a battery capacity that isn’t seen often in premium flagships, but Sammy has made sure to be generous with that, though they skimped on charging speed again. All you get here is 45W fast wired charging.
But Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra has everything you can ask for in a top dog device, including the most powerful chipset of its time, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and support for S Pen stylus. There are options of 8GB and 12GB RAM. And Samsung’s Android software update record has been nothing short of excellent in the last few years. How much does the S23 Ultra cost?
Memory options for the Samsung S23 Ultra includes: 8/256GB, 12/256GB, 12/512GB, and 12GB/1TB. In the United States, the price starts from $800, £780 in the United Kingdom, €962 in Germany, and Rs. 94,000 in India.
Sony Xperia 5 V
Finally, we are here looking at the very topmost premium flagship phone with the best battery life. Sony isn’t a phone company that many people reckon with anymore, but they have this nailed. The Xperia 5 V has battery life that leaves everything else in the premium flagship range in the dust.
The small screen (6.1 inches) helps in part. That small screen is no slouch, though: it has 120Hz refresh rate, HDR10, and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection. The battery capacity is also 5000mAh, like the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s, and wired charging is not especially fast either. Sony put in only 30W charging. Sigh. Why? At least 65W fast charging would have sweetened this package some more.
Anyway, the Xperia 5 V is a full-blown premium top dog with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor under the hood, and coupled with 8GB RAM. Photography is top notch, too, so you have no reason to worry about the camera quality.
However, Sony has not exactly been great with software updates. You can expect perhaps two major updates for the Xperia 5 V and that’s it. That is piss-poor, if you ask me. Sony needs to do better. Much better.
There are only two memory options of this smartphone – 8/256GB and 8/512GB. To own one, you will spend $844 in the United States, £849 in the United Kingdom, and anything from €969 in Germany and other European Union countries.
The Overall Top Premium Flagship Phone With The Best Battery Performance
The honour of the number one spot among premium flagship phones with the best battery life goes to Sony Xperia 5 V. Its battery life is fantastic, outstanding, exemplary. It doesn’t matter what adjective you use; what matters is that the Xperia 5 V effortlessly tops the list.
Being a lover of compact or small smartphones, I am also particularly in love with the Xperia 5 V for its handy size. Small phones are usually not the greatest with battery life, because phone makers tend to squeeze in the smallest possible batteries in them. Sony has bucked that trend here and given us a small flagship smartphone with a big battery. Excellent choice, Sony.
Last Words (No; I’m not kicking the bucket yet)
Don’t forget that all of the phones on this list of premium flagship phones with the best battery life have the best features possible – IP68 rating for water and dust protection, excellent cameras, Gorilla Glass protection and the like, top-notch processors, stereo speakers, wireless charging, under-display fingerprint scanner, 5G connectivity support, wide location support, and more. They are premium flagships afterall.
If like me, battery life is absolutely vital to you and you want the best performance available in a smartphone, what you should be thinking of doing is buying one of these premium flagship phones with the best battery life that I have highlighted in this article. Happy shopping!
