This Phone Is the New Battery Life Champ (By a Lot)

With a name like ZenFone 3 Zoom, you'd think that the best part about the new unlocked phone from Asus is its camera. And that camera is great, as the 2.3x optical zoom is even longer than what you'll find on the iPhone 7 Plus.

But it's how how long this phone lasts on a charge that makes it truly stand out. In fact, this is the longest-lasting phone we've ever tested.

Illustration: Tom's Guide

Illustration: Tom's Guide

On the Tom's Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over 4G on 150 nits of screen brightness, the ZenFone 3 Zoom endured for a truly epic 16 hours and 49 minutes. That blows away the average smartphone at 9:32.

The ZenFone 3 Zoom also beats our former champ, the Moto Z Play (13:46) by more than 3 hours and our former No. 2, the LG X Power, by nearly 4 hours.

The ZenFone 3 Zoom lasted nearly 17 hours on a charge. Credit: Jeremy Lips/Tom's Guide

(Image credit: The ZenFone 3 Zoom lasted nearly 17 hours on a charge. Credit: Jeremy Lips/Tom's Guide)

How does Asus' phone compare to the top flagships? Very, very well. The Galaxy S8+ lasted 11:04 and the iPhone 7 Plus 10:35.

Part of the credit goes to the ZenFone 3 Zoom's monster-sized 5,000 mAh battery, but it also benefits from the power-efficient Snapdragon 625 CPU. This phone isn't as fast as handsets with the latest and greatest Snapdragon 835 chip, but we're willing to bet that a lot of people would be willing to trade some speed for the best battery life ever.

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.