Galaxy S20 Ultra battery test shows how much of a drain 120Hz might be

Ben Schoon | Feb 25 2020 - 10:47 am PT

Perhaps one of the most exciting things about the Galaxy S20 Ultra is its huge 5,000 mAh battery. That number on its own should mean killer battery life, but it seems the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s 120Hz display is going to put a pretty huge drain on that.

Tom’s Guide has been putting the S20 Ultra through its paces over the past several days and so far, the results on the out-of-the-box settings have been more than respectable. Using it’s default settings, the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s battery averaged just shy of 12 hours — 11:58 to be exact.

This battery test sees the device run from a 100% charge with continuous web surfing over a cellular connection until the phone dies. In this case, that was using the Ultra’s 5G connectivity on T-Mobile’s network. This is notable, too, since the newer 5G radios are more battery intensive, meaning the test would probably have even better results on a 4G connection or WiFi. That 5G connection is probably why the S10+ averaged around 40 extra minutes in the same test.

What’s important to note with this battery test, though, is just how much of a dent the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s 120Hz display makes on the 5,000 mAh cell. Simply switching from the out-of-the-box default of FHD 60Hz to FHD 120Hz sees the device losing nearly 3 hours on this test.

Of course, real-life results will definitely vary since ~~no one~~ hardly anyone actually uses their phone for 9 hours straight, but it’s clear the 120Hz panel is going to have a pretty big effect on battery life. This is probably part of the reason Samsung didn’t enable the 120Hz refresh rate at the full QHD+ resolution at launch, though that feature is rumored to be coming later.