If you have the budget for it, buying a flagship phone is always a no-brainer. But the thing about most flagship phones, whether it’s an Android or iPhone, is battery life. Even with all that power, most of them struggle to last an entire day on a single charge. And let’s not even start on what happens once that new battery starts losing health after a few months.
As a quick fix, a lot of people instinctively turn on power saving mode and leave it that way. I’ve seen many of my friends do this, proudly saying it “helps their phone last longer.” But here’s the problem. Keeping power saving mode on all the time defeats the very purpose of owning a flagship. You paid for top-tier performance, stunning visuals, and smooth responsiveness, yet power saving mode takes all that away.
You didn’t buy a flagship to live in power saving mode
Enjoy your flagship the way it was meant to be
I get it. Battery life is by far the most important aspect of a smartphone. Yet when it comes time to buy one, most of us barely pay attention to it. Or worse, we take the manufacturer’s word for it and assume it’s going to last all day.
As a result, once you actually start using the phone, you often find yourself relying on the built-in power saving mode, sometimes a little too much. It’s one quick toggle that promises a few extra hours of battery life, and who wouldn’t want that? Sure, it works, but it’s not meant to be your phone’s default state, especially if you’ve spent close to a thousand dollars on it.
I know people who own the latest iPhones, Pixels, and Galaxy Ultras yet keep power saving mode on permanently. It’s like buying a sports car and never shifting past second gear because you’re worried about fuel consumption. It just doesn’t make sense.
How power saving mode ruins your flagship experience
It kills what makes your phone feel “premium”
What most people underestimate is how power-saving mode affects your experience. In other words, what your phone actually does to squeeze out that extra bit of battery life.
Let’s start with the iPhone. When Low Power Mode kicks in, your iPhone quietly starts trimming corners. The screen brightness drops, your smooth ProMotion display is capped at 60 Hz, and auto-lock shortens to just 30 seconds. It doesn’t stop there. Your iCloud uploads are paused, automatic downloads are halted, and even the Mail app stops fetching updates in the background. Low Power Mode also disables background app refresh across all apps, which means notifications might show up late or not at all unless you open the app yourself.
Android phones restrict performance in a similar way. On Samsung devices, for example, power saving mode disables the Always On Display, caps CPU performance at 70%, and locks the screen refresh rate to 60 Hz. It even turns off 5G entirely, which often means slower data speeds when you’re browsing or streaming.
Now, imagine leaving power saving mode on all the time. You’re essentially throttling your flagship phone to perform like a mid-range device. And ironically, those mid-range phones often come with larger batteries anyway.
There are smarter ways to improve battery life
Get the best of both worlds
If you’re constantly worried about your phone’s battery life, there are several ways to improve it without compromising performance. For starters, you can stop unwanted apps from running in the background. Most apps love to stay active in the background even when you’re not using them. Closing or restricting such apps can improve battery life.
Next, manage your display. The screen is easily the biggest battery drain on any smartphone. Simply lowering the brightness a bit and turning on dark mode can do wonders for your battery, especially on OLED displays, because black pixels actually consume less power.
You can also turn off features when you don’t really need them, like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, location services, Always On Display, and automatic app updates. Each of these small tweaks adds up and can give your battery a little extra breathing room without cutting deep into your phone’s performance.
The only time when power saving mode is actually worth using
Best used as a temporary fix
The best and perhaps the only time to use power saving mode is when you know you won’t be near a charger for a while. This could be during long travel days, camping trips, or those extended power cutouts. It’s also handy when your battery dips below 15%, and you still need your phone to last a bit longer until you can plug it in.
But beyond those specific cases, there’s really no reason to keep it on all the time. Your smartphone is already efficient on its own, and it already adapts to your usage patterns and manages resources intelligently.
So yes, power saving mode absolutely has its place. It’s a great feature, but one you should use sparingly. Your flagship phone was built to dazzle, not to limp along with its wings clipped. And if battery life is an absolute must for your everyday usage, you can always get a light, compact power bank.
