iPhone 8 Battery Life: The Plus Is This Much Better

The A11 Bionic chip inside the iPhone 8 is crazy fast, but how efficient is it? Based on our testing, the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus last a little bit longer than their predecessors on a charge, but the Plus offers especially strong endurance.

(Image credit: Shaun Lucas/Tom's Guide)

In fact, the iPhone 8 Plus' runtime puts it on our list of the longest-lasting phones.

Credit: Nick Bush/Tom's Guide — (Image credit: Nick Bush/Tom's Guide)

On the Tom's Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over 4G LTE on 150 nits of screen brightness, the iPhone 8 lasted 9 hours and 54 minutes, and the iPhone 8 Plus hit 11:16.

Credit: Shaun Lucas/Tom's Guide — (Image credit: Shaun Lucas/Tom's Guide)

By comparison, Samsung's Galaxy S8 (pictured above right) lasted 10:39, which is longer than the iPhone 8. But the Galaxy S8+ (11:04) and the Galaxy Note 8 (11:11) are in the same range as the iPhone 8 Plus.

There are certainly longer-lasting phones out there. In fact, the Asus ZenFone 3 Zoom and its monster 5,000-mAh battery lasted an epic 16 hours and 46 minutes on our battery test. The OnePlus 5 was another marathon runner, turning in a great 13:06.

Overall, though, the iPhone 8 Plus offers very good battery life, which is just one of the reasons we recommend it over the regular iPhone 8. You also get dual cameras and a bigger screen, for just $100 more.

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.