S21 Ultra Battery life really bad compared to all the youtube video review

[daribeiro]

So I bought the new S21 Ultra on the pre order the day it was announced. I was one of the lucky ones to get early so I could leave a review. 

Coming from a Note 10+ that I had for a year and a half, I was really excited for the S21 Ultra, but was really disappointed with the battery life. I've had the phone for 5 days now and since the very beginning I've not been able to use the phone for the whole day on a single charge. It's been giving me screen on times comparable to my Note 10+ (4/5 hours) which is a much older device, but I thought maybe this was the way all S21 ultra's were behaving, just not very good battery life.

BUT, yesterday all the youtubers started to publish they're videos comparing batteries with older S devices and Iphones and their S21s were doing amazing, giving them screen on times of up to 13 hours! 

I contacted support but they said this would be normal as my phone was still learning user patterns... but I'm not sure if that would affect it as bad as it is at the moment. 

What do you guys think? Should I send the phone back? I'm really concerned that I just spent all this money on a new phone for it to be so bad with battery. 

[Thekidman96]

hey guys, got my s21 ultra on Tuesday the 26th, love the screen and cameras and phone in general, but I'm also experiencing poor battery life, I feel as if my S10+ has better battery life still after over a year and a half use, luckily I didn't trade it in so I still have it on me, and annoyingly i still use it, which I don't want to, but my phone dies, and while it's charging I don't want to use it as it gets warm, as well as when I do anything on the phone from scrolling Facebook (which crashes, unlike my S10+) feel like I've downgraded in terms of heat generated by the phone and battery life, other then that, it's a nice upgraded screen and camera, I hope software updates can fix this, by the way I'm in the UK, which means I have the exynos 2100 version, as usual the U.S market gets the better chipset! JUST USE QUALCOMM ALL OVER THE WORLD!

[Thekidman96]

I did use smart switch too. if you find a major difference please let us know.
how does using smart switch or not affect battery life?

[Alexxxx2]

So i read someone did clean install without transfering data from your old phone that works good for now. I also just format the phone and installing everything one by one to see if it will make difference. Its like copying your old windows to your new computer is never a good idea. thats why smart transfer might be the same issue. I will update if clean install will make any difference. 

[daribeiro]

please let us know 😄

[Thekidman96]

yes please let us know.

[ak71]

I can't believe how bad the battery is on my new s21ultra.thought I was upgrading from my old Huawei Pro but nope s21 ultra is rubbish compared with year old phone.very dissapointed

[Leoxis]

Hey guys, 

I have the same issue as everyone else, the phone is giving me not more than 4h SOT and this is with 5G disabled, FHD+ and 60hz on. 

Must admit I'm super mega disappointed by Samsung, as you can see AOD uses 13% of my battery that is nuts. 

My old Huawai Mate 20 Pro battery was 2 times better, i can use it all day gaming browsing photos and still end up with 30% battery at the end of the day. 

I wake up and my AOE used 10% of my battery during the night this is unacceptable. 

And this bullcrap that the phone is learning, did all the YouTubers got different phones or what? 
How come some people are getting 9h SOT and others are getting 4h SOT?!?

Samsung better fixes this or imma return my phone as well. This is 1200 euro phone are you kidding me!

[daribeiro]

Exactly! that's the thing that is confusing me the most... all youtubers and tech review websites say that the battery is amazing. bit then all us normal users are saying it's rubbish! like wtf are we doing wrong???

[Leoxis]

I don't think we are doing something wrong, when you buy a phone with 5k battery you expect perfect battery life that can handle a big load my old Mate 20 pro with 4.5k battery was 2 times better this is more of a downgrade to me than an upgrade. 
Also if the battery is learning and this is the issue, this must have been stated when you first open your phone up with big massive red letters. 
Also was all those YouTubers used the phone for 1 week before doing those tests, makes no sense, I just opened reddit and a lot of people that have the phone are reporting the same issue!
So Samsung manage to make a blowing battery and now a vanishing one, great job Samsung!

[mayaneire]

Got it yesterday.
First it discharged very quickly after setup etc. I did use Smart Switch 

Now almost 24h, 5% left, SoT 10h29m

FHD+, wifi, 5g disabled. Mostly browsing and youtube/spotify (no gaming and wasn't taking lots of pictures but I did take a few). Didn't notice any excessive heat, although it got warmer at times.