120Hz vs 60Hz effect on battery life compared: Galaxy S20 Ultra vs S20 Plus vs S20
In the past few days, we have been testing the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the Galaxy S20 Plus and the smaller Galaxy S20 to find out just what effect does switching to the new ultra-smooth 120Hz refresh rate have on battery life.
While originally, we found that you get nearly 20% worse battery life when you switch the 120Hz option on the Galaxy S20 Ultra, additional testing that we have now done after the early March update shows that the effect could actually be even more pronounced.
60Hz vs 120Hz Battery Life
At the default 60Hz refresh rate, the Galaxy S20 Ultra lasts a whopping 12 hours and 23 minutes on our browsing and scrolling test, more than most other phones that we have tested, but if you switch to 120Hz, the results drop to somewhere between 10 hours and 9 hours and 15 minutes, meaning you get somewhere between 20% and 25% worse battery life.
Similar story with the smaller Galaxy S20. It gets an excellent score at 60Hz when battery life reaches 12 hours and 12 minutes, but switch to 120Hz, and you notice a big drop in battery life to 7 hours and 45 minutes! It is the phone that is hit worst from using 120Hz as its battery life decreases by 36%.
Browsing + Scrolling 60Hz |
Browsing + Scrolling 120Hz |
Decrease in battery life |
|
---|---|---|---|
Galaxy S20 Ultra | 12 hours 23 minutes | varies from 10 hours to 9 hours and 15 mintues | 20% to 25% |
Galaxy S20 Plus | 12 hours 40 minutes | around 8 hours 30 minutes | 33% |
Galaxy S20 | 12 hours 12 minutes | around 7 hours 45 minutes | 36% |
This is unfortunate because it shows that the implementation of 120Hz on the latest Samsung phones really leaves room for improvement. Losing a quarter or more of the battery life for this handy option is definitely a very heavy price to pay.
Do you benefit from 120Hz for videos and other content?
Let’s also clarify that the 120Hz refresh rate is something that you notice easily when just using the phone and scrolling around, but it makes no difference in video watching where content is recorded at a lower refresh rate and you don’t benefit from the higher screen refresh. We also tested half a dozen of popular games and we did not find anyone compatible with the 120Hz option (but we guess some games will be optimized soon).
What is your experience with the new 120Hz display option on the latest Galaxies? Are you planning on using it despite the battery cost?