Xiaomi's Mi Max 2 releases next month with a 5300mAh battery

[Cal Jeffrey]

Are big battery phones going to become a thing? China seems to think so.

Earlier this month we reported that Chinese manufacturer Oukitel had announced the K10000 Pro, which has the biggest battery of any smartphone on the market weighing in at 10,000mAh. The K10000 ditched the slim form factor design and sacrificed some performance in favor of battery life. For those looking for a smartphone for day-to-day use and do not require a top-of-the-line Snapdragon SoC, the K10000 will get them through half the month on one charge, or so its claimed.

Now Beijing’s Xiaomi has announced the Mi Max 2. The successor to the original Mi Max that we reviewed last September, has a 5,000mAh battery and packs more processing power than Oukitel’s offering, so it cannot directly compete with the K10000, but still at up to 48 hours on one charge, it beats any smartphone in the U.S. market where runtime is concerned.

CNET compared battery life on a bunch of different phones and found that the Motorola Moto Z Play had the best stamina, but was still less than half of what Xiaomi claims the Mi Max 2 will muster.

“Clocking in a whopping 23 hours and 3 minutes, [the Moto Z Play] is worth getting for the battery life alone.”

While the Moto Z Play does not have the biggest battery (3510mAh) of those CNET looked at, its configuration afforded it marginally more playtime than competitors. Second place went to Samsung’s Galaxy A7 with 22 hours of run time on a 3600mAh. So the Moto Z Play offers us a good comparison on which to look at the Mi Max 2.

The Max 2 will have a 6.44-inch screen with a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. That equates to 15 percent more display real estate than the Moto Z's 5.5-inch display, but since they both have the same resolution, the Chinese phone loses some pixel density. The Motorola is a bit thinner, 6.99 versus 7.6 mm, but that is to be expected with the Xiaomi housing a 33 percent larger battery.

Both devices run on a 2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 625, however, the Mi Max 2 has 4 GB RAM, whereas the Z has 3 GB. The Moto also only has 32 GB of onboard storage versus 64 or 128 for the Max 2. Both can accommodate a 256 GB SD card for external storage. They both have a 5 MP front facing camera, while the rear Mi Max camera is 12 MP, a tad behind Moto’s 16 MP.

Other than the Android 6.0.1 OS on the Moto and Max’s 7.1.1, and Moto’s extra SIM slot, the devices are similar regarding the rest of their specs. Being very similar phones, it is interesting that Xiaomi can squeeze twice the juice out of a battery only one-third bigger than the Moto Z Play.

The Mi Max 2 releases June 1 for 1,999 Yuan, which is about $290. That's cheaper than the Play's $399 MSRP. However, it's a phone manufactured for the Chinese market, so it probably won't broadcast on U.S. carrier signals. The radio specs for the Max 2 has yet to be confirmed.

When will the U.S. start seeing phones where battery life is the focus? I would buy a bulkier phone if it meant I could go longer than a day without charging. How about you?

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https://www.techspot.com/news/69465-xiaomi-mi-max-2-releases-next-month-5300mah.html

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I have a moto z play, and that 23 hours needs to come with a huge asterisk. The average SoT of the play is 8-9 hours of typical usage, 14-16 with the battery pack. 23 hours is only in a specific app with specific settings.

 

[mrjgriffin]

I think some companies need to ditch that ultra slim look of smartphones in favor of bigger batteries. nobody really ever had a problem with holding cell phones that were thick back before smartphones. thicker to me means less chance of dropping them also. if I have the money one day ill buy one of these behemoths if it works on verizon. my s7 edge with regular use lasts like 7 hours max. not long enough for me but the quickcharge makes up for it mostly

 

[p51d007]

Got a Huawei with a 4,000mAH battery. Typically get 2 days life.
The problem for us in the USA, is finding one that has the correct LTE frequencies.

 

[Tanstar]

I agree with the above comments. Samsung and Apple may not need to change, but those competing with them should give a thicker phone with a serious battery a shot. I'd buy one if it worked on Verizon.

 

[Opus]

I hate the fact that since the fall of mighty Nokia, No phone has been able to live upto the battery life of feature phones. Every company is trying to make those slim as though we the consumers may need phones as replacement of the meat cutting knives. The whole point of mobile phone is the one that can be handled with ease and convenience of several day usage. But unfortunately, almost every company is in a race to make their mobile phones razor thin.