Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra battery life

By Chris Hahn On Jan 13, 2021

The Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is the most premium phone in the S21 series, and it’s also the one that comes with the biggest battery.

Rumored to be equipped with a massive, 5,000mAh battery, and benefitting from the latest and most power efficient, 5nm chips, as well as dynamic refresh rate screen, the S21 Ultra should go above and beyond in terms of battery life.

So how long will the S21 Ultra battery last users in the real world?

Galaxy S21 Ultra Battery Life

Our first cue comes from the leaks and rumors. The 5,000mAh S21 Ultra battery size is the same as on last year’s S20 Ultra, however, this year, the phone features a more power efficient processor with up to 20% better power savings. Additionally, the S21 Ultra now uses an LTPO dynamic refresh rate screen, so the battery-taxing 120Hz refresh rate will be automatically dropped to lower rates when circumstances allow. So we can safely expect the Galaxy S21 Ultra to outlast the S20 Ultra, and here is what battery life looked on that phone:

Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 60Hz Web Browsing Battery Test: 12 hours 23 minutes
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 120Hz Web Browsing Battery Test: 10 hours 2 minutes

Jumping over those numbers, would put the S21 Ultra among the very top performers on our battery test.

And here is how the battery sizes compare for all Galaxy S21 series phones, and a few other recent Galaxies:

Galaxy S21 Ultra battery: 5,000mAh
Galaxy S21 Plus battery: 4,800mAh
Galaxy S21 battery: 4,000mAh
Galaxy S20 Ultra battery: 5,000mAh
Galaxy S20 Plus battery: 4,500mAh
Galaxy S20 battery: 4,000mAh
Galaxy Note 20 Ultra battery: 4,500mAh

*S21 numbers are based on leaks and rumors

An interesting observation here is that Samsung has narrowed the gap between the S21 Ultra and the S21 Plus. While the battery size on the Ultra has not changed from last year’s model, the S21 Plus has gotten a bigger 4,800mAh battery while at the same time that model remains considerably thinner. The Galaxy S21 Ultra is rumored to be 8.9mm thick vs just 7.8mm thickness on the Plus model, so the Plus might be a great option for those who want excellent battery life without having an extra large device.

We will be updating this article with our Galaxy S21 Ultra battery test results as soon as we complete them, so stay tuned!

S21 Ultra Charging Speeds

The biggest news about the S21 Ultra and charging are probably that you won’t even get a charger in the box. Following Apple which set the charger-less tone with the iPhone 12 series, Samsung has quickly decided to follow and removes the charger from all S21 series phones (you still get a standard USB to USB-C cable at least).

So what charger is the best charger for the S21 Ultra? The phone is rumored to supportsup to 45W charging speeds, so you have the option to buy the 45W Samsung charger selling for around $50 (usually discounted for around $35 at retailers like Best Buy) for the fastest charging speeds. That charger, however, comes with a special, thicker cable and the charger itself is quite bulky, so most people would probably still be best off with the more compact and affordable 25W Samsung fast charger sold for $35 (but currently discounted for $23 at Best Buy).

All Galaxy S21 phones, including the Ultra, are also said to support reverse wireless charging, or as Samsung calls it Wireless PowerShare. You can enable the feature from the drop down menu and once turned on, it transforms your phone into a kind of a wireless power bank, so you can place your Galaxy Buds or Galaxy Watch on the back of the phone and it will charge them up.

We will be updating this article with our Galaxy S21 Ultra charging test results as soon as we complete them, so stay tuned!

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