Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 battery life tested — here’s how it stacks up

When the Galaxy Z Flip 5 was announced during Samsung’s Unpacked event, we were all hoping to see a larger battery in it. That’s because as we’ve seen in our Motorola Razr+ vs. Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4 comaprison, Motorola easily beat out Samsung’s foldable by a huge margin. After spending hands-on time with Samsung’s latest foldable phone, our expectation is that it should come out on top against its key rivals.

Despite having the same 3,700 mAh battery capacity as its predecessor should have increased gains because of the more power efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip inside. Taking into consideration how the Galaxy S23 Plus showed improved battery life over its predecessor with the same chipset, it’s only logical to presume to see the same thing happening with the Z Flip 5.

However, the Tom’s Guide battery test revealed some surprising results. As you can see in the table below, the Z Flip 5 does indeed beat out last year’s model by nearly an hour with a battery life of 9 hours and 53 minutes when the display is set at a 60Hz refresh rate — but it doesn’t come eclipse the Motorola Razr+’s tally of 10 hours and 9 minutes. And the Razr+ is using what’s essentially regarded as an inferior chip with the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1.

Our battery test continuously surfs the web at 150 nits of screen brightness over a 5G connection. And our best phone battery life list has models that last 11.5 hours or longer.

Against other phones in its $999 price range, we see flagships like the iPhone 14 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus pulling in longer results with our battery test. What’s notable about this is that the Galaxy S23 Plus is using the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip as the Z Flip 5, but the results are substantially different. However, it’s worth pointing out the sizable difference between their battery capacities — 3,700 mAh vs. 4,700 mAh.

We’re also still in the process of testing out the Flip 5’s charging speed as well. Unfortunately, Samsung didn’t upgrade its wired or wireless speeds, which is still stuck at 25W and 15W respectively. 

In this clamshell foldable space, it looks like the Motorola Razr+ will continue to be the benchmark to beat. It’s a win for Motorola no doubt, but if you intend on buying any of the options in our best foldable phones list, there are other factors to consider in your decision — like their camera performance, productivity, and design. There’s still work needed in order for these foldable to really become top contenders against the longest lasting phones, but each new iteration bridges the gap closer.

We’re still running more tests for our Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 review, so check back soon to see if it’s a meaningful upgrade.

More from Tom’s Guide