“Why does it seem like older cellphones had longer lasting batteries than smartphones today?”

Posted on by Fred Langa

(Answer requested by Gautam Naib)

Because they did far less.

Cellphones started as, well, phones. You used them to make voice calls or to exchange short-form (pager-style) texts. Period.

With limited functions in intermittent use, the batteries on small-screen, low-power cellphones could and sometimes did last for days.

But to do any of the myriad other things that we now routinely use smartphones for, you’d have to carry separate devices, each with its own battery.

  • If you wanted photos, you carried a separate camera with its own battery.
  • Video? Separate device, separate battery.
  • Location or map services? Separate GPS device with its own battery.
  • Listen to music? Separate device, with its own battery.
  • Time of day? Separate watch, with its own battery.
  • Sound recorder? Separate device, with its own battery.
  • Watch a movie? Separate device, with its own battery.
  • Illumination? Flashlight, with its own battery.
  • Full web access, or to perform serious digital work? PC with its own power supply or battery.
  • Etc. Etc. Etc.

In fact, depending on how finely you slice things, it can be argued that a current smartphone can replace 40-50 separate old-school battery-powered devices. (Examples.)

One smartphone replaces 40-50 other battery-powered devices.

That versatility means that today’s smartphones are frequently on and in use during the day, with a powerful CPU driving a big screen with dense pixels counts and high refresh rates; operating on multiple radio bands (cellphone voice, multiple cellphone data bands, 2 Wi-Fi bands, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS, etc.), and running a full range of software.

The magic isn’t that older phones could sometimes last a long time between charges — but that today’s much-more-powerful, much-more-useful phones also can!

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1 Reply to ““Why does it seem like older cellphones had longer lasting batteries than smartphones today?””

  1. It is the same reason you know need a Pentium processor to run word–which originally could run off a 5 1/4″ floppy. Hardware manufacturers keep increasing the capacity and then software engineers add stuff to programs up to the limit of the available hardware.

    Cell phone manufacturers will put as much capability into a phone as the battery will support. Battery makers are constantly working to improve batteries to last longer and do more.

    There will never be a time in which cellphones vary all that much in startup or processing time. If reviews say “it runs a little sluggish” then they will take something out, clean up the code (duh) or get a bigger battery. If reviews for the new phone say “the new display is crisper and more responsive” then mfgs will beef up the display, putting more load on the battery.

    It always has been, and always will be, driven by what consumers are willing to put up with and still buy the product.

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