Asus ROG Phone 5 battery tested: is this the new battery champ?
The Asus ROG Phone 5 comes with the largest battery on a flagship phone so far in 2021 and we were incredibly curious to see whether its battery life will live up to the high expectations that come with a massive 6,000mAh battery on a phone with a 1080p screen.
After several days of running benchmarks non-stop, we are ready with the Asus ROG Phone 5 battery test results and we have some very interesting news to share. The phone comes with three different refresh rates, 144Hz, more than on other phones, 120Hz that matches the Galaxy S21 series, and 60Hz for those who want to preserve battery life. You can manually select which of these modes to choose, but it's probably best to go for the Auto option that will automatically select the appropriate mode depending on the app you use. For example, once you start playing a YouTube video, the phone will know to drop down to 60Hz and save you battery life.
- Read our full Asus ROG Phone 5 review here
With all of this in mind, let's look at the ROG Phone 5 battery life for...
3D Gaming battery test: 144Hz vs 120Hz vs 60Hz
Our 3D gaming test is designed to stress the graphics unit and as evident from the results above battery life really drops if you opt for the higher refresh rates in games.
Here are the battery results for each mode:
- ROG Phone 5 144Hz: 5 hours 24 minutes
- ROG Phone 5 120Hz: 6 hours 20 minutes
- ROG Phone 5 60Hz: 10 hours 48 minutes
So yes, switching to 60Hz for gaming will definitely give you much longer battery life, and you should consider it if you are not a competitive gamer. If you want the best performance and IF the game supports 144Hz, however, that faster refresh rate will give you the competitive edge you need to win.
YouTube video test
As we mentioned earlier, if you go for the Auto refresh rate option, the phone automatically drops to 60Hz once you start playing a video on YouTube and that's a smart move.
In fact, looking at the scores, the Asus ROG Phone 5 scores the HIGHEST of any phone we have ever tested on this test and that's truly a big achievement, especially considering that it has such powerful speakers that sound incredibly good.
So yes, this result is an absolute revelation and if you watch a lot of videos on your phone, this one is a beast that you should consider.
Web Browsing Test: 120Hz vs 60Hz
Finally, our lightest test, just browsing the web we get some pretty solid results, even if not record high. By the way, using auto mode in Chrome, usually means the phone is running at 120Hz to give you that smooth scrolling, in case you were curious.
For just browsing, we really don't recommend switching to 60Hz, as the battery benefit is minuscule.
Charging times
The great thing about the ROG Phone 5 is that it ships with a charger in the box, and not just any charger, but a super fast 65W charging brick. Yes, it's definitely quite a bit bigger than other typical chargers, but it can fully top up the phone in less than an hour, which is great considering you have 6,000mAh battery inside. Interestingly, the battery is actually divided in two 3,000mAh cells to achieve that fast charge.
And here is how much charge can you get with a quick top-up, again, it's much faster than Samsung and Apple flagships:
Overall, the Asus ROG Phone 5 is a battery beats both for gaming and watching videos, and it should definitely be at the top of your list if battery life is a priority.
Things that are NOT allowed: