LG G7 ThinQ Battery Life: This Is How Bad It Is

By Caitlin McGarry
published

The battery life on LG’s new flagship phone can’t compare to long-lasting devices from Apple, Samsung and Google. But at least the G7 charges quickly.

LG’s G7 ThinQ packs a 3,000 mAh battery in its 6-inch frame, which means it should last as long on a charge as rival flagships with similar battery capacity.

But LG’s smartphones suffer from a critical issue: poor battery life. That’s despite its solid battery capacity and power-efficient Snapdragon 845 processor, which is identical to the mobile processor powering Samsung’s Galaxy S9. That device lasts two and a half hours longer than the G7 on the Tom’s Guide Battery Test, continuous web-surfing over 4G LTE. In this case, we used T-Mobile’s network.

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

We test each phone’s display at around 50 percent brightness — the G7 was set to 53 percent, to be exact — because using a phone at peak brightness will drain the battery more quickly.

LG G7 ThinQ Battery Life Compared

Swipe to scroll horizontally
Phone
Battery Size
Battery Life (Hrs:Mins)
LG G7 ThinQ3,000 mAh
8:35
Huawei Mate 10 Pro4,000 mAh
14:33
Google Pixel 2 XL3,500 mAh
12:09
Apple iPhone 8 Plus2,675 mAh (based on teardowns)
11:16
Google Pixel 22,700 mAh
11:07
Samsung Galaxy S9+3,500 mAh
10:59
Samsung Galaxy S93,000 mAh
10:52
Apple iPhone X2,716 mAh (based on teardowns)
10:49
Apple iPhone 81,821 mAh (based on teardowns)
9:54
LG V303,300 mAh
6:30

Like its predecessor, last year’s G6, G7’s battery life underwhelms compared to the competition. The G6 turned in 8 hours and 39 minutes, and the G7 didn’t even match that, lasting just 8:35. LG’s V30, released earlier this year, turned in a paltry performance of 6:30 in our testing.

Every other high-end smartphone lasts hours longer than LG’s devices. The category average is 9:50, and flagships from Apple, Samsung and Google all sail past that mark. Huawei’s Mate 10 Pro is still the leader among flagship phones, lasting a whopping 14 hours and 33 minutes, but Google’s Pixel 2 XL (12:09) and Apple’s iPhone 8 Plus (11:16) aren’t too shabby, either.

Caitlin McGarry

Caitlin is a Senior editor for Gizmodo. She has also worked on Tom's Guide, Macworld, PCWorld and the Las Vegas Review-Journal. When she's not testing out the latest devices, you can find her running around the streets of Los Angeles, putting in morning miles or searching for the best tacos.

9 Comments Comment from the forums
  • boridalli070
    this is pre production model in testing, wait finaly production model
    Reply
  • michaelcsmith1984
    Exactly, They always make LG look bad then wonder why they don't sell. They all know it's still pre production units but still insist on testing and giving final verdicts
    Reply
  • bastian-nissen
    What? V30 at 6:30h? I own one and that's pretty much the SoT I get when using it through the day (full brightness half of the time, which is between 400 and 600 nits depending on the sun boost) while listening to music for 4 hours and even downloading stuff.

    Just "continuously browsed" for 2:30 straight at 64% auto brightness (including heavy tapping, configured 2 PCs at Mindfactory.de) and this is the result:

    https://imgur.com/gallery/p23e3yl

    Your benchmark is FAR off reality!
    Reply
  • piglet_squid
    Thanks for the post Bastian - this alleviates my concerns somewhat... I was all set on getting G7 but reports of bad battery life make me concerned (I don't understand why they reduced the capacity from the G6 from 3300 to 3000, even if the screen & processor are more efficient - and extra 300mah doesn't add much, to either cost or thickness.
    Reply
  • bastian-nissen
    No problem Piglet :)

    Battery is smaller because of the boombox resonance chamber very likely... don't get it either though. The G7 is still 12g lighter than the FAR smaller iPhone X, 25g lighter than the S9+ and 40g lighter than the iPhone 8 Plus. Simply make it 0.5mm thicker and give it ~3600mAh ^^
    Reply
  • bastian-nissen
    No problem Piglet :)

    Probably the battery is smaller because of the boombox resonance chamber. Don't get it either though... simply make the phone 0.5mm thicker, it's still FAR lighter than every other manufacturers phone. 12g lighter than the far smaller iPhone X, 25g lighter than the S9+ and 40g lighter than the iPhone Plus models.
    Reply
  • piglet_squid
    Yep, then it would have been perfect. Being light is good, but too light and it can make it feel cheap/less sturdy.
    Reply
  • piglet_squid
    Maybe it's to help differentiate the V series, as that will have a bigger battery most likely. If that's the case it's kinda lame to purposefully hinder the G series though.
    Reply
  • bastian-nissen
    @Piglet: Making a phone light to make it feel "cheap"? The V30 is 40g lighter yet a lot sturdier than the iPhone 8 Plus. Apple seriously implemented brackets without any use just to make it heavier ^^
    Reply