Best phone battery life 2016 - top smartphones tested

While putting the phone into aeroplane mode turns off all of the wireless features and, naturally, extends battery life, it does mean that our tests are repeatable. The big problem with wireless is that signal strength can come and go, which forces the phone to adjust the amount of power that it uses constantly, causing variable results. This year, we're working on a test that will use Wi-Fi and a streaming video, to give a closer and more accurate representation of battery life under test conditions. However, it's important to us that the test is repeatable, so we can compare phones with a degree of accuracy. Ultimately, how you use your phone, where you live and which mobile network you're on will all affect battery life. At Expert Reviews, our goal is to show which phones last the longest in repeatable conditions, with the inference being that longer-lasting phones will outperform those with smaller batteries in the real world.

Results

As you can see from the graph below, there's a huge discrepancy in smartphone battery life, with just under ten hours separating the best battery life from the worst. Overall, theSamsung Galaxy S7 is our current battery life king, lasting 17h 48m, but the best iOS device is the iPhone 6S Plus with 14h 58m. Meanwhile, the best Windows phone is theMicrosoft Lumia 950 XL with 13h 02m. 

There are a couple of surprises here, too, as the iPhone 6S only ranks 24th out of 46. Likewise, the Sony Xperia Z5 Compact, the latest model of last year's battery life champion has fallen much further down the table to 11th place. It's not just phablets and flagships filling out the top spots either, as the LG Leon and Motorola's 2nd Gen Moto E both rank in the top ten and don't cost any more than £100, showing you don't have to spend a lot of money to get a long-lasting phone.