Phones with best battery life 2025 - buyer’s guide

We are putting the iPhone 16 Pro Max as our top pick here for being not only one of the best flagships, but also one of the phones to offer the longer battery life nowadays.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max is worth getting for its well-rounded user experience, luxurious design, its premium services and warranty, for its clockwork iOS, and for its versatile camera experience with great photos and exceptional videos. And a thousand other little things we cannot fit in here.

The new model delivers on its promises, even the carefully worded ones like performance improvements. Apple has never targeted the tech-savvy smartphones users with the iPhone and instead won their large base with consistent quality, a high level of service and convenience and (some) pro features. And the formula is still working, better than ever if you ask us.

So, should you get the new iPhone? It is the best iPhone ever made. It has a stunning design, an outstanding display, great performance, impressive speakers, pro-grade cameras with a consistently good photo and class-leading video quality, impressively long battery life and likable if weird iOS. That’s a YES, fore sure.

Overall, the iPhone 16 Plus impressed us with its chart-topping battery life, its excellent build, console-level performance and reliable cameras across the board.

It's still nowhere near the Pro lineup, and it's missing features such as an optical zoom camera, the autofocus on the ultra-wide camera, the 120Hz high-refresh-rate screen that comes with Always-On Display, or the new customizable Action key. Depending on your priorities, the lack of some of these might be a deal-breaker for you.

The iPhone 16 Plus is one really niche device, but if we had to pinpoint one key feature – it would be its really impressive battery life. And then adding the well-rounded specs, we think have a winner here.

The iQOO 13 is a very competent all-rounder with impressive battery life. It features an extremely powerful chipset, a good display, nice-sounding and loud stereo speakers, and a full set of cameras. All of this is wrapped in a premium and good-looking chassis. We are particularly impressed by the sustained performance. The handset handles high loads for long periods of time, suggesting it will do great in long gaming sessions too.

Fast charging and excellent battery life are also standout features. And although a fairly potent camera system, which performs well during the day, it leaves much to be desired from the 2x zoom and ultrawide cameras at night. This is where the competition delivers.

But if you are in the market for a phone in this ‘like a flagship’, then the iQOO 13 is an outright recommendation for its premium all-round feature set. It is currently limited to India, but if you like it, you can easily buy it elsewhere.

Sony really outdid itself this year and the new Xperia 1 VI scored an outstanding Active Use Score! Plus, we liked the new more mainstream yet still premium display, latest chipset and the improved cameras, both hardware and software-wise.

However, the unremarkable video quality with the zoom camera, the uncompetitive charging speed and the underwhelming performance tuning of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 keep us from giving this phone an excellent score.

Then again, if you are a photography nerd, you will definitely appreciate the solid hardware at hand here coupled with excellent battery life and various Pro-oriented modes and settings for photos and, eventually, for videos.

Overall, we enjoyed our time with the Zenfone 11 Ultra. Asus has a very "no-nonsense" approach to smartphone development and the general UX, especially regarding the Zenfone line, which is meant to have a much broader appeal than the ROG Phone. It is an excellent flagship smartphone with high-end specs and performance,

The only thing that rubbed us the wrong way was the absence of a charger in the retail box. Oh, and perhaps cooling could be better for the beastly Snapdragon 8 Gen 3.

Other than that, we have nothing but praise for the Zenfone 11 Ultra. It is a superb device all around, worthy of rubbing shoulders with the best and most popular premium phones currently out there. Here's hoping it brings Asus some much-needed market success and wider popularity with buyers.

OnePlus chose not to do a lot of camera upgrades this time around, so we're not really raving about it as a cameraphone. Don't get us wrong though - it remains a solid picture-taking device, with somewhat of a standout ultrawide. We'd have liked to see a closer-focusing telephoto - you'll need to look elsewhere for one of those. OP is also staying away from the display brightness race - but that's more of a blemish in the tests page than a real issue with the 13.

The 13 is, in fact, quite great on the fundamentals, offering some of the longest battery life in the class, together with speedy top-ups. No longer trailing in dust and water resistance, it's now as well-sealed as the rest, and it's even a step ahead in the build department thanks to its magnetic accessories capability.

Overall, the OnePlus 13 offers greatness all around, it’s just not as unmatched as we would have like for, especially in the camera department.

Some 11 years later, the OnePlus appeal is no longer in its bargain price. But that doesn't mean the 13 isn't a competitive package - quite the opposite. You should definitely have it on your short list.

The Find X series have returned with a properly impressive flagship smartphone – the Find X8 Pro. It offers a refreshed design with improved ingress protection, a top-notch Dolby Vision display, superb performance, an impressive camera system, and a large battery (offering impressive battery life) with nicely fast charging.

The Find X8 Pro's flaws are few, smallish, and of somewhat lesser importance than the things it's actually great at. Just because Oppo is choosing to stay away from a brightness competition, doesn't mean you'll be strapped for nits, and unless you absolutely must game above 60fps, you'll be perfectly fine with a Find. The camera system has a few imperfections in our experience, but you can expect that from the Pro when there's an Ultra on the way.

Those relatively minor things aside, the Find X8 Pro is a thoroughly competent all-round flagship smartphone. The super powerful chipset is about as good as they come, the battery life is towards the top of the class, the newly-standard next-level water sealing brings extra peace of mind, the camera key can't hurt. And there's the top-tier camera system that struck us as better than most at low-light video, while also being great in general.

The Find X8 Pro is available now and even if it is not available on every shelf, it is worth going through the hassle of getting it.

The Honor Magic7 RSR Porsche Design is great at everything important - screen, battery life, charging speed, speakers, performance, camera, and connectivity. It may not be as competitive as the industry darlings from Samsung and Apple, but if you value its premium market positioning and exclusive features, the Magic7 RSR is worth considering.

The Honor Magic7 Pro does a lot of things right - to the high standard you'd expect from a top-shelf model - and it also manages to stand out in a couple of ways worth mentioning. At least two of them can be found in the pill-shaped cutout in the display - the selfie camera and the 3D face scanning bits that you can't get on all that many Androids. The unusually loud speakers are also possibly a selling point.

The Magic7 Pro impresses with a large 6.8-inch LTPO OLED screen of high resolution, high dynamic refresh rate, 10-bit color depth, and support for HDR and Dolby Vision streaming. It is also powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip for top-notch performance. All these goodies coupled with the awesome speakers make for one excellent multimedia device.

Honor's camera system is one of the best in the class yet, and it delivers loveable quality across the board, front and rear, day and night.

If you are looking for a proper flagship with top-notch camera kit and all-round feature set, the Magic7 Pro RSR Porsche Design must be an instant addition to your shortlist.

The OnePlus 13R has expanded availability compared to the 12R and is an excellent offer priced around €700 as it can does most things €1200+ flagships can do. It is a capable all-rounder with excellent performance, long battery life, dependable camera hardware, fast enough charging and exceptionally loud speakers. The 13R easily covers all bases without necessarily breaking the bank.

Having said that, the ultrawide and selfie cameras keep us from giving the 13R an excellent score in this department and alternatives seem to be better at taking stills and videos. Also, even if the maximum brightness is sufficient, most other displays in this price bracket are brighter.

At the end of the day, if you are willing to make a small compromise in the camera department, you probably won't find a more powerful handset for the asking price while delivering excellent battery life and a solid display and camera experience. Some carriers might give it a deal on this one you just cannot refuse.

The OnePlus Nord 4 remains competitive in its price range by offering a unique design approach, excellent battery life, speedy charging and great performance thanks to its Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 chip. The camera experience is a mixed bag, but we tend to like the photos taken with the main camera in 1x Photo mode. The absence of stabilized 4K video recording is the bigger con in our books, though.

Having 256GB storage by default would have made the Nord 4 a tad more competitive as at least half of the phones in the same price bracket start from 128GB. The promised 4 years of software support will likely draw some users who are already on the fence.

The Nord 4 has a lot of premium features, great battery life included, so we do reccoment exploring it.

The Nothing Phone (2a) Plus model is a solid overall package. All of the unique Nothing design and aesthetics are there. Compared to the Nothing Phone (2a), the uptick in performance isn't particularly huge and is not realistically noticeable in practice. The display, while not industry-leading, is slightly brighter. The upgraded 50MP selfie is appreciated but it's only a slight improvement.

The larger version of the unique phone introduces spectacular battery life, which comes on top of already great specs sheet and awesome features. And that is why it has made it to our list.

The Galaxy A15 4G is an excellent offer – affordable and with outstanding battery life. It comes with a bright and smooth 1080p AMOLED screen, a good chipset, camera that gets the job done, and fast charging. The phone runs on the latest Android version and One UI, too, and it will get 3 major Android updates.

It is hardly the best phone, that is for sure. There is no ingress protection, the speaker is so-so, the GPU performance is mediocre, and the cameras are no good at night. But even as is - the Galaxy A15 just make sense.

We had it rather easy with the Galaxy A15 - it is a good phone for the price, and we do recommend it if it fits your budget.

The Xiaomi 14 is a reasonably priced compact flagship phone. Overall, the handset is a capable mini flagship with plenty of big-screen features - a full stack of excellent cameras, LTPO OLED, fast charging, solid battery life and plenty of storage.

What we would like to see in the next version of the Xiaomi 14 is autofocus on the ultrawide camera, better selfie and better thermals during long and heavy workloads. We found the Xiaomi 14 to throttle significantly under load, which may ruin your gaming experience in some cases.

Still, the Xiaomi 14 is easy to recommend as it's perhaps the most capable compact Android flagship currently on the market.

This new generation Motorola Razr 50 Ultra addresses some of our Razr 40 Ultra complaints and brings other improvements. Most notable, perhaps, is the introduction of a proper IPX8-rating, which brings the Razr's water resistance up to the Galaxy Z Flip level.

The Moto is without competition in its market segment when it comes to charging speed, its displays are likely the best in its class, and its speakers are better than most (foldables or otherwise). The software implementation on the cover screen is one 2x button in the camera UI short of perfection, and Hello UI is easy to like in its entirety as well.

Motorola is taking a bit of gamble with the camera setup - or is it a calculated strategy? Either way, we do like the main+tele combo, and if you're more into ultrawide shots, there's always the non-Ultra. In any case, this Razr does a solid job as a cameraphone..

All things considered, as small-size foldables go, the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra has some excellent features and impressive battery life, which makes it quite the enticing proposition.

The Oppo Find N5 more or less represents the pinnacle of current foldable tech. It uses the most modern Snapdragon 8 Elite generation of chipset, and more importantly, it is exquisitely crafted to be exceptionally thin while still packing in a big Si/C battery and an impressive hinge that makes for an almost invisible display crease. Oppo even found space for a versatile camera system.

The Find N5 is well-equipped through and through. It supports all of the latest connectivity standards, including some little extras like tri-band Wi-Fi 7 and video output via its Type-C port. The technological density on display here is really impressive. Oppo even found the space to fit in proper stereo speakers and even an IR blaster. Even Oppo's signature alert slider is present.

Having said all this, is the Find N5 a perfect device? Well, no, we definitely can't say that. It might be at the pinnacle of foldable design, but that comes with some omissions. Nothing too obvious, mind you, but little things, like the fact that the Snapdragon 8 Elite inside the phone is one CPU core short and doesn't retain its performance particularly well over time. Or the fact that the ultrawide camera is a bit sub-par.

Overall, if you appreciate the foldable form factor, there is probably no better option than the Oppo Find N5 on the market right now, plus, it offers amazing battery life for a foldable.