Galaxy Note 9's "All Day Battery" Won't Last All Day

Newsflash – the Galaxy Note 9’s “all day battery” isn’t guaranteed. But it will last most of the day for the average user, which isn’t nearly as catchy.

We’ve been ragging on Apple a lot for the iPhone’s battery life – and the company’s various schemes to downgrade existing batteries – so the Galaxy Note 9 has an obvious selling point. Samsung’s latest “phablet” won’t win on price (its $1,000 price tag is big even by Apple standards), but it scores big in longevity.

Now, what does an “all day battery” mean, exactly? Samsung is mum on specifics, but they do provide the following clarification – “Estimated against the usage profile of an average/typical user. Independently assessed by Strategy Analytics between 11-24 July 2018 in USA and UK with pre-release versions of SM-N960 (128GB). Actual battery life varies by network environment, features and apps used, frequency of calls and messages, number of times charged, and many other factors.”

All of which likely translates to “most of the day through moderate usage,” but we won’t know until users can fiddle with it. ZDNet does point out that the Samsung S9+ fits most definitions of “all day” – at least 12 hours, depending on usage – and the Galaxy Note 9 has an upgraded 4,000 mAh battery to 3,500 mAH in the S9+.

Of course, the battery tussle isn’t as one-sided as you might think. The iPhone is notorious for its modest longevity, but the iPhone 7 Plus phablet apparently bested the S8+ in the power department. But then, Samsung hasn’t been linked with OS updates that slash battery life.

The Galaxy Note 9 hits stores on August 24.