Maybe the tide has finally turned for Tensor with a very fresh battery drain test showing that a brand new Pixel 10 Pro can best Apple’s middle-child iPhone 16 Pro by an impressive 45 minutes.
In the world of flagship smartphones, battery life is one of the most significant deciding factors for many buyers. Apple’s iPhones have long been praised for their power efficiency despite having smaller batteries, while Samsung has typically leaned on large cells to stay competitive. But in a very recent extreme battery drain test by Ben Aboagye from Lover of Tech over on YouTube, the Google Pixel 10 Pro outlasted both the iPhone 16 Pro and the Galaxy S25, finishing with a clear lead. You can see the full video below:
This result is more than just bragging rights; it’s a meaningful sign that Google’s Tensor G5 chip could finally deliver real efficiency gains.
Test setup and controls
According to Aboagye, his extensive series of battery drain tests has been calibrated over years of similar battery drain videos and was designed to be as fair and controlled as possible, given various hardware and software variances. He even goes as far as to ensure that all phones have minimal battery charge cycles, which could benefit the Pixel 10 in this instance as the newest release.
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All three devices were run on cellular data while connected to the same UK carrier, with Wi-Fi disabled. Brightness was calibrated to ~200 nits, adaptive settings and battery savers were turned off. Each device ran through a sequence of common tasks. This includes 4K video recording, TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube playback, music streaming, and gaming. Simply put, there are few variables that could affect how fair the end result would be.
Ben emphasized the effort behind the test:
“[We] do shoot it as one continuous video with no skips and no stops… a detailed, methodical, realistic, and accurate approach to our controlled indoor extreme battery drain test.”
The final results
iPhone 16 Pro: 6 hours 15 minutes (3,582 mAh battery, A18 Pro on 3nm). Despite finishing last, it “punched above its weight” given the smaller cell.
Samsung Galaxy S25: 6 hours 20 minutes (slightly larger battery, Exynos/Snapdragon variant). Solid, but not enough for the win.
Google Pixel 10 Pro: 7 hours 1 minute — with 8% left in the tank before pushing into Asphalt gaming, where it finally shut down during load.
Does this single test matter?
Sure, given its various use cases and possible connotations, there is never a truly solid way to test a device’s overall longevity. How you use your phone versus how someone else uses it will be very different.
Although this is just one such test, the Pixel 10 Pro’s impressive battery longevity isn’t just about raw capacity. Google’s Tensor line has historically struggled with efficiency and thermals compared to Apple’s A-series chips. Earlier Tensor generations often fell short in sustained performance and endurance, with overheating being a common issue.
This year, however, the Tensor G5 in the Pixel 10 series is fabbed on TSMC’s 3nm process (rather than Samsung’s), marking a major architectural shift. And while you can critique the test methodology, it is about as fair as it can get while showing the difference: despite being pushed through intensive, real-world apps, the Pixel 10 Pro not only held steady but also outlasted Apple. That ain’t bad considering iPhones are famous for longevity despite packing smaller batteries. To add to that: it didn’t overheat despite the intense workload.
We all hoped that switching from Samsung Foundry to TSMC would bring hardware efficiency to the next generation of Pixels. If we’re already seeing that with the first SoC in this new collaboration, the future looks bright. With a full extra 40 minutes over the Galaxy S25 and nearly an hour more than the iPhone 16 Pro, the Pixel 10 Pro’s showing may mark the beginning of a new chapter for Google’s silicon.
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