SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 5, 2026, 03:24 (PST)
- According to reports, CNET’s test of 35 smartphones placed the iPhone 17 Pro Max at the top for battery life.
- The base iPhone 17 matched the OnePlus 15 for second place, even with a significantly smaller battery capacity
- According to the reports, Apple topped the brand-average scores in the same test
Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro Max claimed the top spot for battery life in CNET’s test of 35 smartphones, outlasting devices with much bigger batteries and pushing Apple ahead on average among brands, according to tech sites. The standard iPhone 17 matched the OnePlus 15 for second place, even though it packs a significantly smaller battery, they added.
Battery life is back in the spotlight as phones juggle more tasks — video streaming, navigation, messaging, gaming — and users grow tired of charging every day. A CNET/YouGov survey from September 2025 found that longer battery life was the leading reason people considered upgrading their phones, second only to price.
This testing matters because it slices through the hype around battery size. CNET’s benchmarks ran a three-hour video stream over Wi‑Fi at max brightness, then followed up with a 45-minute endurance test mixing gaming, video, social scrolling, and a video call—all starting from a full charge, according to the reports.
The iPhone 17 Pro Max packed a 5,088 milliamp-hour (mAh) battery, topping the charts, the reports revealed. They attributed this to Apple’s efficiency, highlighting the A19 Pro chip and the company’s seamless hardware-software sync instead of any breakthrough in battery chemistry.
Reports show the iPhone 17’s 3,692 mAh battery held up to the OnePlus 15 in testing, even though the OnePlus sports a much larger 7,300 mAh cell. That difference is typically the kind of advantage Android brands lean on to sell their devices.
Apple topped the list with an average score of 91.7%, narrowly beating OnePlus and outpacing other brands by a significant margin, the reports noted.
This stands out against Android’s general trend toward larger batteries. The Times of India highlighted 6,000 mAh cells in Samsung’s Galaxy M35 and Galaxy F15, with Realme’s 16 Pro+ packing 7,000 mAh. OnePlus pushed even further, topping out at 7,400 mAh on some models.
Wccftech highlighted the ranking to stress that capacity isn’t the same as endurance. It noted the growing use of silicon‑carbon batteries—a chemistry some makers rely on to pack more energy into the same size. But they cautioned that bigger capacity doesn’t guarantee longer real-world battery life. In fact, designs heavy on silicon might actually wear out faster.
There are caveats. Battery benchmarks vary with screen brightness, network conditions, background apps, and the mix of tasks testers use. Even minor software tweaks can push results one way or the other.
Apple sticks to its familiar angle: longer battery life without just piling on bigger battery specs. For competitors, the message is tougher — here, efficiency carried the day.
