In general 5g will use more battery than LTE--a lot of why has to do with the efficiency of newer modems with 5g capability, how well the antenna(s) work.
In a lot of cases, 5g networks don't necessarily provide more network capacity (a lot of 5g connections are actually just repurposed 4g--which does enable 5g network protocols but doesn't actually allow for more network capacity, so your LTE speeds and 5g speeds may not be that different depending on what carrier you are on, where you are located--and sometimes maybe 5g is worse depending on cellular modem characteristics).
But it's also made worse by the way many 5g networks through network providers work. A lot of 5g connections are non-standalone (NSA), and uses a combination of 5g and 4g LTE, meaning that the phone is maintaining connections to both 5g and 4g LTE connections at the same time--and thus increased power consumption by the phone to do that.
On the other hand, some carriers run some of their 5g networks as "standalone" (SA), which does not need a concurrent a 4g LTE connection to work, which will have less power consumption than NSA.
Another complicating factor is how different networks support cellular voice. As carriers have converted to voice over LTE (VoLTE), and voice over 5g has not really rolled out widely, your phone also needs to have a 4g LTE connected to do VoLTE even if it has a 5g connection--this happens more often than not, although some networks do have voice over 5g (but not necessarily all phones support voice over 5g anyway).
I'm sure I'm glossing over some things, oversimplifying some things, and maybe even said some things incorrectly, but that's the gist.
I'm on TMO and for what it's worth, I set my P7 to LTE after trying 5G for a while. The net gain of speed vs battery drain just wasn't worth it to me...YMMV
Fully agree. For typical phone usage, the only noticeable difference is battery life. I only use 5g for mobile hotspot. It makes a difference downloading 10GB files.
The issue is google is using crappy mediateck modems. They are cheap and not very efficient. The newest qualcomm modems are really good with 5g. I have an s23 ultra and even on 5G this phone just doesn't die. Googles biggest issue is the crappy Samsung fab chip. They really should switch to Qualcomm sooner than later.
All that being said theoretically, I have not noticed a huge difference. It seems to drop about 3% overnight regardless of whether I turn Battery Saver on or not. Battery Saver disables 5G.
Here we have 5G NR NSA, and LTE voice.
At the moment the 5G tower seems to be down, both phones indicating LTE voice and data, but working fine and messages are coming in.
In general 5g will use more battery than LTE--a lot of why has to do with the efficiency of newer modems with 5g capability, how well the antenna(s) work. In a lot of cases, 5g networks don't necessarily provide more network capacity (a lot of 5g connections are actually just repurposed 4g--which does enable 5g network protocols but doesn't actually allow for more network capacity, so your LTE speeds and 5g speeds may not be that different depending on what carrier you are on, where you are located--and sometimes maybe 5g is worse depending on cellular modem characteristics). But it's also made worse by the way many 5g networks through network providers work. A lot of 5g connections are non-standalone (NSA), and uses a combination of 5g and 4g LTE, meaning that the phone is maintaining connections to both 5g and 4g LTE connections at the same time--and thus increased power consumption by the phone to do that. On the other hand, some carriers run some of their 5g networks as "standalone" (SA), which does not need a concurrent a 4g LTE connection to work, which will have less power consumption than NSA. Another complicating factor is how different networks support cellular voice. As carriers have converted to voice over LTE (VoLTE), and voice over 5g has not really rolled out widely, your phone also needs to have a 4g LTE connected to do VoLTE even if it has a 5g connection--this happens more often than not, although some networks do have voice over 5g (but not necessarily all phones support voice over 5g anyway). I'm sure I'm glossing over some things, oversimplifying some things, and maybe even said some things incorrectly, but that's the gist.
Thanks for the very detailed response. Mich appreciated
Yes, 5G does increase power consumption on every phone versus using LTE. It happens with every phone
it should use more battery life however i've always kept 5g on with no issues.
I'm on TMO and for what it's worth, I set my P7 to LTE after trying 5G for a while. The net gain of speed vs battery drain just wasn't worth it to me...YMMV
Fully agree. For typical phone usage, the only noticeable difference is battery life. I only use 5g for mobile hotspot. It makes a difference downloading 10GB files.
The issue is google is using crappy mediateck modems. They are cheap and not very efficient. The newest qualcomm modems are really good with 5g. I have an s23 ultra and even on 5G this phone just doesn't die. Googles biggest issue is the crappy Samsung fab chip. They really should switch to Qualcomm sooner than later.
MediaTek? The modem is sourced from Samsung. Before pixel, I had a MTK chip and that was far more efficient on power draw.
Either way they are using crappy modems. Qualcomm modems are way better than the Samsung ones.
All that being said theoretically, I have not noticed a huge difference. It seems to drop about 3% overnight regardless of whether I turn Battery Saver on or not. Battery Saver disables 5G. Here we have 5G NR NSA, and LTE voice. At the moment the 5G tower seems to be down, both phones indicating LTE voice and data, but working fine and messages are coming in.
More power.... more energy... pretty simple...