Samsung Galaxy S21 leak reveals huge battery life upgrade

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
(Image credit: LetsGoDigital)

The Samsung Galaxy S21 will see a major increase in battery life if new leaks are to be believed. 

According to the leak via PhoneArena, the S21 will not have the 1440p screen found on the regular Galaxy S20. Instead, Samsung will be opting for a more modest 1080p screen. Because both the S20 and S21 are reportedly sharing the same 4000mAh battery (model EB-BG980ABY), the S21 will see a two-hour increase in battery performance based on the new screen alone.

Meanwhile, the Galaxy S21 Plus is said to be getting an even larger 4,800 mAh battery (up from 4,500 mAh) and the S21 Ultra should have the same mammoth 5,000 mAh pack. And there's other reasons to be optimistic. 

This lower resolution on the S21 and S21 Plus means that the pixel density will be lower than that on the S20 and S21 Plus. It's a bummer for Galaxy fans that demand the highest end-specs from each year's model, but the gains are significant. 

In everyday use, there's seldom an advantage to having so many pixels crammed into a display roughly six inches in diameter. It's plenty sharp, whether it be 1440p or 1080p.

Per comparison testing by Android Authority, full-HD (FHD) screens perform on average 24% better in battery life when compared to quad-HD (QHD) displays. That's an extra 176 minutes. 

Beyond a new lower resolution screen will come an even more efficient chip. The S20 used the Snapdragon 865 7nm processor. The S21 will feature the Snapdragon 888, featuring Samsung's new EUV process, bringing it down to 5nm. This should lead to a 20% lesser power draw when compared to the S20.

The Snapdragon 888 will also feature the X60 5G modem on the die itself, helping increase efficiency over the S20, which used a separate 5G chip. 

It seems that new leaks are dropping every other day for the S21. Keep track of all the leaks in one place at our Galaxy S21 rumor roundup page. 

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Imad Khan

Imad is currently Senior Google and Internet Culture reporter for CNET, but until recently was News Editor at Tom's Guide. Hailing from Texas, Imad started his journalism career in 2013 and has amassed bylines with the New York Times, the Washington Post, ESPN, Wired and Men's Health Magazine, among others. Outside of work, you can find him sitting blankly in front of a Word document trying desperately to write the first pages of a new book.