Your phone’s box says 7100 mAh. You install 3C Battery, charge a few times, and it tells you about 5900 mAh. Is your brand-new battery already tired?
Almost certainly not. The number printed on the box isn’t quite the promise most of us think it is. Here’s the friendly version of a surprisingly interesting story.
One label, two numbers
Battery makers actually measure two different figures:
- Typical capacity: the average of many batteries from the same production line. Some come out a bit above it, some a bit below.
- Rated capacity: the guaranteed minimum. No battery of that model should ever come out below it.
The box, the ad and the website usually show the bigger one, the typical figure. A few brands are kind enough to print both:
| Phone | On the box (typical) | Guaranteed (minimum) |
|---|---|---|
| Xiaomi Mi 10 | 4780 mAh | 4680 mAh |
| Google Pixel 9 | 4700 mAh | 4558 mAh |
| Samsung Galaxy S24 | 4000 mAh | 3880 mAh |
Samsung even says it in small print: the advertised number is “the estimated average value considering the deviation in battery capacity among the battery samples”.
Many brands print just one number
Lots of phones only show a single figure, with no hint of which kind it is. Is it the average, the minimum, or the best a lucky unit might reach? You can’t tell from the box.
And every single battery is a little different, even two from the same factory week. Some models even get a different battery depending on the country: the OnePlus Nord CE5, for example, ships with 7100 mAh in India but 5200 mAh in Europe and the UK, under the same name.
So when your phone shows less than the box, it can simply mean the box was showing a generous figure.
What our community sees, brand by brand
This is where you come in! Thanks to everyone sharing anonymous data from 3C Battery, we can compare what batteries actually hold with what was advertised, brand by brand.
How to read this: look at the true health figure. Close to 100% means that brand’s phones really hold about what the box says. A lower figure means the box tends to show a best-case number. It doesn’t mean the batteries are worse, just that the label is more optimistic.
To keep it fair, we only compare recent models here (the years are noted under the lists), so a brand isn’t held back by a few much older phones whose batteries have simply lived a longer life.
A trend is starting to show: some brands land close to their label, others consistently below it. It’s still early, and a brand with only a handful of phones can move a lot as more people join, so please read it as a first glimpse rather than a final verdict.
Battery health
Measured capacity as a share of the advertised capacity.
- 1Samsung120 devices92.5%
- 2Honor7 devices92.5%
- 3Sony8 devices92.1%
- 4Motorola15 devices91.4%
- 5OnePlus10 devices90.5%
- 6Google29 devices89.8%
- 7Xiaomi29 devices85.3%
- 8Nothing7 devices85.1%
- 9Oppo6 devices81.1%
- 10Nubia5 devices80.7%
Standby time
How long a full charge lasts at the measured screen-off drain.
- 1Sharp5 devices8d20h
- 2Oppo7 devices7d23h
- 3Lenovo5 devices6d0h
- 4Honor7 devices5d12h
- 5Realme6 devices5d5h
- 6Nubia5 devices4d21h
- 7OnePlus11 devices4d15h
- 8Xiaomi38 devices4d14h
- 9Motorola21 devices4d9h
- 10Nothing7 devices3d13h
Screen-on time
How long a full charge lasts at the measured screen-on drain.
- 1Oppo7 devices1d7h
- 2Nothing7 devices17h45m
- 3OnePlus11 devices16h22m
- 4Google30 devices13h51m
- 5Nubia5 devices13h49m
- 6Realme6 devices13h09m
- 7Sharp5 devices11h37m
- 8Motorola21 devices11h27m
- 9Honor7 devices11h22m
- 10Lenovo6 devices11h11m
Slowest aging
Capacity lost per year of battery age - lower is better.
- 1Samsung131 devices4.7%/yr
- 2Sony7 devices5.3%/yr
- 3Motorola20 devices5.9%/yr
- 4Honor6 devices6.7%/yr
- 5OnePlus10 devices7.9%/yr
- 6Google29 devices8.6%/yr
- 7Vivo5 devices9.2%/yr
- 8Nothing7 devices9.7%/yr
- 9Xiaomi37 devices10.6%/yr
- 10Sharp5 devices12.3%/yr
Standby efficiency
Average power drawn with the screen off - lower is better.
- 1Oppo6 devices219 mW
- 2Realme5 devices227 mW
- 3Nothing7 devices287 mW
- 4Honor7 devices292 mW
- 5OnePlus10 devices348 mW
- 6Samsung119 devices396 mW
- 7Xiaomi29 devices401 mW
- 8Google29 devices457 mW
- 9Sony8 devices646 mW
- 10Nubia5 devices1719 mW
Screen-on efficiency
Average power drawn with the screen on - lower is better.
- 1Motorola15 devices1.54 W
- 2Google29 devices1.71 W
- 3Realme5 devices1.71 W
- 4Nothing7 devices1.87 W
- 5OnePlus10 devices1.93 W
- 6Samsung120 devices2.08 W
- 7Xiaomi29 devices2.08 W
- 8Nubia5 devices2.22 W
- 9Oppo6 devices2.24 W
- 10Honor7 devices2.33 W
Averages over 301 devices (models released 2025) whose owners shared their battery data anonymously from a 3C app - each entry is backed by at least 5 devices. Updated 2026-10-05. A self-selected sample: indicative, not a lab measurement. Tap a device to see how its results spread.
Not ranked yet
These brands have shared battery data, but from fewer than 5 devices - too few for an average worth publishing, so none of their figures are shown. Own one? Turn on community data sharing in 3C Battery Manager or another 3C app: a device starts counting once the app has about two weeks of charge history, and each one brings its brand closer to the lists above.
Show all 10 brands not ranked yet
- Cubot4 more devices needed
- Fairphone2 more devices needed
- Headwolf4 more devices needed
- Huawei4 more devices needed
- Infinix3 more devices needed
- Tcl4 more devices needed
- Teclast4 more devices needed
- Tecno4 more devices needed
- Unihertz4 more devices needed
- XPPen4 more devices needed
Why do two apps show different numbers?
Your phone keeps its own running guess of how much charge is inside, often called the charge counter. Some apps show that guess directly. It’s handy, but it’s the phone’s estimate, and even Android’s own documentation says it isn’t guaranteed to be accurate.
3C Battery does something different: it watches what actually flows into the battery each time you charge, and adds it all up. That takes a few charges to settle, but it’s measured rather than guessed. So don’t be surprised if the two disagree. And sometimes the honest number is the less flattering one.
One more fun fact: 100% isn’t always completely full. Most phones show 100% a little early, then keep topping up slowly for a while. 3C Battery keeps counting during that time too.
Getting the most accurate reading
- Keep recording switched on in 3C Battery. While charging, it now takes a reading every minute automatically.
- Let a few charges happen normally. Longer charges help the most, but every charge counts.
- Give it a few days. The estimate gets steadier with each charge.
Thank you!
Every phone that shares its data makes this picture clearer for everyone. If you’d like to help, turn on community sharing in 3C Battery. It’s anonymous, and it’s how we can keep telling these stories with real numbers. Thank you for being part of it!
