Why Your Smartphone Battery Drains Faster with 5G – Experts Explain

Experts explain that using 5G increases smartphone energy consumption by 6–11% compared to 4G LTE. The gap is narrowing thanks to modern processors. You don't need to turn off 5G completely – just adjust the settings.

Experts from batteriesplus.com explained why smartphones drain faster when using 5G networks. On average, the difference is 6–11% compared to 4G LTE. However, modern processors like Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and Gen 3 consume energy more efficiently than the chips in early 5G smartphones, including the iPhone 12. It is not necessary to completely disable 5G: simply adjust the settings – ensure 5G support is enabled, turn off power-saving and data-saving modes, and restart the network connection. The article also mentions the Battery Share feature, which allows charging other devices, but notes that this quickly drains the battery.