I used to long for my phone to have a massive battery, but now I’m largely ambivalent. Charging my phone has become fast and easy enough that it doesn’t really matter.
Phones Charge Faster Now
Older phones took much longer to charge. We used to measure the time in hours, not minutes.
Now we can put a day’s charge in many phones within a half hour. Many take even less. If I charged my previous Moto Edge+ 2023 while I was in the shower, I knew I was good for the day thanks to its blazing fast 68-watt charging.
My current Galaxy Z Fold 6 charges much slower, at 25 watts, and yet that is still plenty fast enough. If the battery ever gets low, I drop it on the charger while I do something else, and by the time I think of it again, the phone has recouped more than enough juice.
What matters more than the size of a phone’s battery is whether you have enough fast charging cables that are at least 25 watts. If you’re trying to charge a phone with a slow 5W or 10W cable, you’re not going to be in for a good time.
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Power Is Also Easier to Find
In the early years of smartphones, we were dependent on wall chargers. Early portable power banks were much smaller than they are now. A 1,000mAh portable battery could restore less than half the battery of a Nexus 5. Now 10,000mAh batteries are just as cheap, and they can charge most phones roughly twice. You can buy a 25,000mAh battery just barely small enough to carry onto a plane and be able to power a phone for a week.
Portable power has reached new levels of output. Anker still makes wall chargers and portable battery banks, but they also make portable power stations that can run hungry kitchen appliances and solar generators that can power a home. I take an Anker C300 on road trips now as a cheap way to have AC outlets in my car, and the unit is small enough to carry into the woods. There’s an even cheaper and smaller DC-only version that’s perfect for phones:
Anker SOLIX C300 DC
The Anker SOLIX C300 DC is a versatile and portable power station with a 288Wh capacity and 300W output. It features multiple charging ports, including two 140W two-way USB-C ports, and can be recharged via an AC outlet, solar panel, or car charger. This makes it perfect for outdoor adventures, travel, and emergency backup power.
Phone batteries don’t need to last for multiple days when charging them, even in the wilderness, isn’t that big a deal.
Charging Has Gotten Easier
Charging is not only more abundant, it’s also just easier. I have a wireless charging stand in my kitchen that I place my phone on all the time. It may not be as fast as using a cable, but it keeps my phone visible when I want it to be, and it’s a dedicated spot where I know to find my phone later. Even basic phone stands are useful, so it’s only an added perk when they also generate power.
My Kia Niro EV came with a wireless charging pad where I can toss the phone while driving. So did my wife’s car. They’re not fast chargers, but they work, and they beat fiddling with a cable when we’re hitting the road.
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iPhone owners have it even easier. Many of the best MagSafe accessories hold the phone in place while it charges. You can have a phone mount in your car that’s simultaneously charging your phone. You can even use MagSafe to connect to a portable battery bank.
Idle Drain Matters More
The bigger issue isn’t the size of a phone’s battery, but how quickly your phone drains the battery that’s there. If my phone can’t make it through the day even when it’s idle in my pocket, then that’s when battery life is absolutely an issue. That’s the kind of stress I dealt with when carrying around a Purism Librem 5 (something I documented during my time at MakeUseOf).
That’s not a concern with my Galaxy Z Fold 6. Even if its successor continues to have a 4,400mAh battery while other foldables offer upwards of 5,000, it doesn’t matter all that much to me as long as I can still take a short train trip to DC, spend all day touring the capital, and head back home without wondering if my phone died in my pocket.
If I go on a hike with a friend, I expect my phone to be able to last those several hours without me needing a battery bank in my pocket. Most modern smartphones do. Many phones with one-day battery life easily last double that when they aren’t actively being used. A bigger battery can help, but sometimes it’s just a crutch masking non-optimized software.
I like having a nice phone as much as the next person. My phone, despite being purchased second-hand, is a high-end foldable after all. But while I do get excited for camera improvements and more capable GPUs, I just don’t care about larger batteries the way I once did. With charging so abundant and effortless, it doesn’t have much of an impact on my life. We need battery materials going into more things than ever. Let’s not cram more into any one object than we need.
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Ugreen Nexode Pro 65W USB-C Wall Charger
$31 $50 Save
$19The Ugreen Nexode Pro 65W USB-C Wall Charger doesn’t include a ton of connections, but whatever you plug into one of the USB-C ports, or the single USB-A, is guaranteed to be refueled at lightning speed.
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Anker 313 Charger (Ace, 45W)
The Anker 313 Charger (Ace, 45W) is a compact USB-C charger that uses GaN tech and supports USB PD. However, you’ll be missing out on Quick Charge technology.
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Spigen ArcStation Pro GaN 452
The Spigen ArcStation Pro GaN 452 is a fantastic USB-C wall charger that can deliver up to 45W power. It can also fast-charge Apple, Google, and Samsung phones.
