OnePlus 7 Pro Battery Life: We Have Bad News (and Good News)

The OnePlus 7 Pro has a pretty big 4,000 mAh battery. But that large capacity doesn’t mean you’re going to get great endurance.

The OnePlus 6T lasts a meh 9:31 on a charge, but it juices up very quickly. Credit: Tom's Guide

(Image credit: The OnePlus 6T lasts a meh 9:31 on a charge, but it juices up very quickly. Credit: Tom's Guide)

On the Tom’s Guide Battery Test, which involves web surfing over 4G LTE at 150 nits of screen brightness, the OnePlus 7 Pro lasted 9 hours and 31 minutes. Note that we always try to turn our test over T-Mobile’s network so we can get consistent numbers for comparison.

Unfortunately, this runtime does not put the OnePlus 7 Pro on our list of phones with the longest battery life. By comparison, the Galaxy S10 Plus’ 4,100 mAh battery lasted a much longer 12 hours and 35 minutes. That’s more than 3 hours longer than OnePlus’ phone. The regular Galaxy S10 and its 3,400 mAh battery lasted 10:19 which is about 50 minutes longer than the OnePlus 7 Pro.

OnePlus 7 Pro Battery Life vs Competing Phones

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Phone
Battery Size
Battery Life (Hrs:Mins)
OnePlus 7 Pro
4,000 mAh
9:31
Galaxy S10 Plus
4,100 mAh12:35
iPhone XR
2,942 mAh (rumored)
11:26
iPhone XS Max
3,174 mAh (rumored)
10:38
OnePlus 6T
3,700 mAh
10:23
iPhone XS
2,658 mAh (rumored)
9:41
Galaxy S10e
3,100 mAh9:41
Pixel 3 XL
3,430 mAh9:30

What about the smaller and cheaper Galaxy S10e? This was a closer match, as Samsung’s budget phone lasted 9:41 with its relatively small 3,100 mAh battery.

Interestingly, last year’s OnePlus 6T also outlasted the OnePlus 7 Pro with its 3,700 mAh battery. The older phone endured for 10:23. To be fair, Google’s Pixel 3 XL turned in a comparable runtime to the OnePlus 7 Pro at 9:30, but that’s a similarly disappointing result.

Apple’s latest iPhones also one-upped the OnePlus. The iPhone XS was closest with its time of 9:41, while the iPhone XS Max (10:38) and iPhone XR (11:26) both lasted considerably longer. The battery capacities listed above are based on teardowns.

OnePlus 7 Pro’s fast-charging

Here’s the good news. When you need a quick recharge, the OnePlus 7 Pro will get you topped off in a hurry. The company claims that you can get 50 percent capacity in just 20 minutes via its Warp Charge 30 technology.

MORE: OnePlus 7 Pro vs OnePlus 7: What's Different?

In our testing, the OnePlus 7 Pro went from 0 percent to 30 percent in just 30 minutes. The phone hit 92 percent after an hour. Just keep in mind that the power brick is on the beefy side, which is closer in size to what you’d see with a laptop than a smartphone.

Overall, the relatively short battery life of the OnePlus 7 Pro is one of the few drawbacks this phone has. But provided you’re near an outlet, it won’t take long at all to add a lot of juice.

Credit: Tom's Guide

Mark Spoonauer

Mark Spoonauer is the global editor in chief of Tom's Guide and has covered technology for over 20 years. In addition to overseeing the direction of Tom's Guide, Mark specializes in covering all things mobile, having reviewed dozens of smartphones and other gadgets. He has spoken at key industry events and appears regularly on TV to discuss the latest trends, including Cheddar, Fox Business and other outlets. Mark was previously editor in chief of Laptop Mag, and his work has appeared in Wired, Popular Science and Inc. Follow him on Twitter at @mspoonauer.