14 DAY TRIAL // A report from the Consumers' Association, also known under the name of Which?, revealed that some companies such as Apple and HTC might be exaggerating their battery life claims.
We can all agree that battery life is one of the most important aspects when it comes to buying a new device. It might not be flashy as some of the other features, like a beautiful display or design, but if the battery is not up to par, there’s a good chance people won’t buy the device.
Companies usually test their phones before launch, and they list the battery performance when idle or for talk time. As users, we can only take them at their word, but companies are not going to shy away from embellishing the truth. For example, Apple was throttling the power of their older phones so that users don’t notice the shrinking battery life.
Which? findings are interesting but difficult to confirm
The Which? Consumer Association looked at more than 50 phones, from six different brands, with a minimum of six from each company. As you would expect, some performed as they claimed, some much better, and a couple were visibly different.
It’s nice to see that, for the most part, the companies’ claims weren’t all that far off from reality. This is to be expected because the methodology is different. Which? doesn’t test the phones in the same way as companies, and employ their own methodology.
The outliers were Apple and HTC. For example, HTC claims an average talk time for their phone at 20.5 hours, but only delivers 19.6. It’s not a bad number, and could very easily be chucked on a different methodology.
On the other hand, Apple has an average talk time on the nine tested phones of 19.4, but the actual number is 14.8. We can all agree that it’s a massive difference. The latest model, Apple’s iPhone XR, claims 25-hour talk time but only delivers 16 hours and 32 minutes.
Apple stands by its claims and methodology, along with HTC. In fact, Which? talked with the companies and they said they “rigorously test products and stands behind its battery claims, and HTC said it diligently tests all aspects of performance and differences in testing environments may have resulted in the variation we found.”
Some good news
The Which? report also uncovered that some companies underestimate the battery life for their devices. The Sony Xperia Z5, a phone released three years ago and claimed 17 hours of talk time, but it actually provides over 25 hours.