The iPhone Air makes up for its minuscule battery capacity by not just sporting the C1X 5G modem, which Apple claims consumes 30 percent less power than the Snapdragon X75 while delivering better performance, but also the company’s in-house N1 wireless chip. These two components paired with the LTPO OLED screen should provide incredible battery life, but in the latest battery drain test, its rival, the Galaxy S25 Edge, has the last laugh.
YouTuber believes the iPhone Air’s battery drain came from its single speaker, which is calibrated to deliver a higher output compared to the Galaxy S25 Edge’s stereo configuration
With the iPhone Air and Galaxy S25 Edge in the possession of PhoneBuff, we can see the YouTuber’s comprehensive battery drain test. At the beginning of the gauntlet, Apple’s sleek premium handset obtains a lead in the 1-hour phone call run, after which both flagships keep the same pace during email sifting. It is during the browser scrolling phase that the Galaxy S25 Edge obtains its first lead against the iPhone Air, with the device maintaining this advantage during the 16-hour standby test.
The iPhone Air bridges the gap against its rival in Alto’s Adventure, which is not the most demanding game out there, but running it for one hour will easily drop some percentage points. When using Google Maps, which requires the Wi-Fi adapter and GPS to be working at all times, the Galaxy S25 Edge continues to have the upper hand, though the content creator explains why this might be the case. During every battery drain test, two smartphones are configured equally to make the test fair.
These calibrations are done for the displays, which are running at 200 nits, and the speakers. Unfortunately, unlike the Galaxy S25 Edge’s stereo speakers, the iPhone Air relies on a single speaker, and for it to throw out the same amount of audio as the Android smartphone, the output must be higher, which might result in higher energy usage. Towards the end of the test, Snapchat, which was the last and most demanding app out there, allowed the iPhone Air to keep some of its percentage points.
Whether this was due to the iPhone Air’s incredible efficiency, or Snapchat being more optimized for iOS, we could not confirm, but the Galaxy S25 Edge’s lead was quickly eroding, but not to the point where it would lose. In total, both devices lasted for the following number of hours and minutes.
iPhone Air
Active time - 9 hours and 58 minutes
Standby time - 16 hours
Total time - 25 hours and 58 minutes
Galaxy S25 Edge
Active time - 9 hours and 59 minutes
Standby time - 16 hours
Total time - 25 hours and 59 minutes
Even though PhoneBuff said that the battery drain test ended in a tie, we like to think that every second the Galaxy S25 Edge outlasted put itself in the path of victory against the iPhone Air. In short, even though Apple can incorporate all the power-efficient hardware in its devices, it still cannot beat a smartphone that packs a larger battery than the other handset.
News Source: PhoneBuff
About the author: Omar Sohail is a reporter and analyst for Wccftech's mobile section, specializing in the technology and business of the mobile industry. His expertise lies in the intricate hardware supply chain, covering developments in semiconductor manufacturing, chip lithography, and camera sensor technology.
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