Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G's battery performance is quite impressive

Samsung's latest flagship, the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is one of the highest-rated smartphones of early 2021. Why? As its name suggests, it comes with "ultra" hardware that performs in real life.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G's battery performance is quite impressive

But obviously, a phone with this big display, powerful specs, and new-gen connectivity options needs a large battery capacity. Fortunately, Samsung is aware of that. So, this device is packed with 5,000mAh of juice.

The Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G's battery efficiency techniques

Guys, 5,000mAh of battery is large. In comparison, most premium all-around smartphones only offer around 3,678mAh to 4,500mAh of juice.

Apart from the large battery capacity, Samsung did plenty of optimizations to ensure that this phone has a good battery performance.

Big and great screen!

1. The display - Normally, screens with large resolution and high refresh rates are power-hungry. Samsung's solution? Use an adaptive refresh rate technology that automatically changes the refresh rates from 10 to 120Hz. This means 

The South Korean firm also allows its users to lower the resolution if they want to further conserve power. AND of course, it has an ambient light sensor that automatically lowers the screen brightness when not needed which saves power.

Samsung Exynos 2100 5G

2. The chipset - This uses a 2.9GHz 5nm EUV Exynos 2100 5G octa-core processor. This processor was built on the 5nm EUV process node. This is the latest in mobile chip tech today that is more power-efficient than older fabrications.

Exynos 2100 5G has a large prime Cortex-X1 core clocked at 2.9GHz, but it will only use that core on super demanding apps. Most of the time, it'll run the lower Cortex-A78 cores power-efficient Cortex-A55 cores on apps and tasks that don't require too much speed.

It also has a new NPU (AI chip) that helps in battery efficiency.

3. Software optimizations - In the battery settings it has the "Adaptive battery" function that limits battery usage for apps that you don't use often. It also allows its users to turn off the "Enhanced processing" that consumes more power when not needed.

Battery performance experience

Battery benchmark score

Using the standard PCMark Work 2.0 battery life test, the device clocked at 9 hours and 14 minutes. In this stress test, that score is a bit low.

BUT, battery benchmarks don't tell the complete story.

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Battery settings

Despite having a power-hungry high-res display with up to 120Hz refresh rate and flagship innards, we are happy with its battery performance in real-life, as mentioned in our full review.

Even under heavy usage while being connected to WiFi, 4G LTE, and 5G, S21 Ultra 5G was able to last a full day of use with some charge to spare. In particular, we were able to use it from 8 AM to 8 PM with 20 to 25 percent left in the battery tank.

The total screen on time we recorded is 7 hours and 15 minutes. This is better than the usual 5 to 6 hours we are getting with older flagships.

Our tasks? A lot. We used the device to call, text, web surf, e-mail, stream music, and video, play games, and navigate with Waze.

Using the device while watching 4K videos or playing games with the stereo speaker on will definitely eat up battery faster, but our experience with it is still above-average.

Once your battery runs out, there are several ways to charge the phone:

USB-C charging support

1. Wired charging - It supports up to 25W of USB-C charging. The charger is not included in the box anymore, but those who order the handset from Samsung's online store until April 30 can get a FREE 25W USB-C Fast Charging Travel Adapter.

The 45W fast charging support from the S20 Ultra is gone, but its 25W charging is still fast. Likely, it is safer as well. Using that charger, you can power up your phone from 0 to 100 percent in about 75 minutes.

2. Wireless charging - This device supports up to 15W of Qi wireless charging. With this tech, the phone will be fully charged in about 2 hours from 0 to 100 percent.

3. Reverse wireless charging (Wireless PowerShare) - The handset has 4.5W of reverse wireless charging tech. You can use this to be charged by other phones with reverse wireless charging in case you forgot your wired charger or wireless charging pad.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G Specs

Display: 6.8-inch 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass Victus protected Dynamic AMOLED 2X 120Hz screen w/ QHD+ 3200 x 1440 resolution at 516 ppi

CPU: 2.9GHz 5nm EUV Exynos 2100 5G octa-core processor

GPU: Mali-G78 MP14

RAM: 12GB/16GB LPDDR5

ROM: 256GB/512GB UFS 3.1

Back Camera: 108MP f/1.8 w/ Laser AF, OIS + 12MP f/2.2 120-degree ultra-wide-angle + 10MP f/2.4 3x Telephoto w/ Dual Pixel, OIS + 10MP f/4.9 10x telephoto w/ Laser AF, OIS + LED flash

Selfie Camera: 40MP f/2.2 w/ Dual Pixel

Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 25W fast charging, 15W wireless charging, reverse wireless charging

OS: Android 11 w/ One UI 3.1

Connectivity: WiFi 6E, 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.1, UWB, MST, OTG, NFC, dual-band GPS, dual SIM (hybrid)

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic, pressure, heart rate

Others: Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, face unlock, IP68 water and dust resistance, USB-C, UHQ 32-bit/DSD audio support, AKG stereo speakers, Colors: Phantom Silver, Phantom Black

Dimensions: 165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9 mm

Weight: 228 g

Price: PHP 66,990 (12GB/128GB), PHP 69,990 (12GB/256GB), PHP 79,990 (16GB/512GB)

Our thoughts

The Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G is a device that will allow its users to enjoy its beautiful display, speedy performance, good cameras, and connectivity functions for long periods of time.

This is in spite of having a large high-res display with high-refresh-rate along with strong overall specs—thanks to its use of a massive 5,000mAh battery and Samsung's intelligent optimizations.

To recap, the Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G's SRP starts at PHP 66,990 for the 12GB RAM/128GB storage variant, PHP 69,990 for the 12GB RAM/256GB storage model, and PHP 79,990 for the top-end 16GB RAM/512GB storage edition.

To read our review: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G Review - Top 2021 Android phone so far!

What do you guys think? Do you agree with us?