iPhone 6 takes twice as long to charge as Samsung Galaxy S6

25 Aug 2015

Samsung Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6, image via Luke Maxwell

The iPhone 6 was way off the pace in a project that looked at the charge times for leading smartphones, with Samsung’s Galaxy S6 charging in half the time.

Lagging behind at every five-minute interval, Apple’s landmark device took almost as long to get from 80pc to 100pc as it did to get from 5pc to 80pc.

The Galaxy S6, though, led the way, with a total charge time of one hour and 22 minutes, a full hour and 13 minutes ahead of the iPhone 6.

A premium field

Tom’s Guide looked at seven leading smartphones, with the iPhone and Galaxy S6 joined by Asus Zenfone 2, Google Nexus 6, OnePlus 2, LG G4 and the Motorola Droid Turbo.

It then started each device at 5pc and checked in every five minutes to see how the charging was getting on.

The Zenfone 2 started the brightest, reaching 17pc charge in just five minutes, with the iPhone 6 reaching just 6pc – one percentage point more than where it started – in the same period.

Samsung’s premium device began reeling in the Zenfone 2, matching its charge of 53pc after half an hour, before pulling away to finish ahead of the field.

charging smartphones

Full charge results, via Tom’s Guide

Tom’s Guide notes that many of those that fully charged within the two-hour mark (OnePlus 2 and iPhone 6 did not) are Qualcomm Quick-Charge capable, with Samsung the only device with its own speedy software.

Also, battery capacity was taken into account, which again left the iPhone cast adrift of its competitors.

Of course, battery longevity and charge times don’t make or break these devices. If that were true then we would never have made the move from Nokia phones that lasted longer than cheese on a single charge.

But even still, with such a disparity in such a competitive field, it makes rumours that Apple is working with a firm that specialises in hydrogen batteries that last seven days in a smartphone all the more sensible.

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

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