On average, a smartphone battery loses 20% of its primary capacity in about 500 charge-discharge cycles. Unfortunately, this process cannot be stopped, but you can try to slow it down by following the simple rules for charging the battery.

Do I need to drain the battery to "zero"?

There is a widespread fallacy that the battery must be discharged to "zero" before putting the smartphone on charge. But it's not. Modern batteries of the Li-Ion and Li-Pol types, which are predominantly used in mobile phones, are completely devoid of the so-called "memory effect". A deep discharge only causes problems and a possible loss of potential energy in the long term. Not without reason, after all, almost all smartphones warn the user about a low charge level at about 20% of the "juice" left.

In modern smartphones, the battery does not need to be discharged to "zero", which will cause a decrease in battery capacity.

Where did the myth come from that the battery needs to be discharged to 0%? It goes back to those ancient times when mobile phones were powered by Ni-Cd and Ni-Mh batteries. Those batteries really had a "memory effect" - a new charge of an incompletely drained battery was possible only from the point to which the battery was discharged. For at least the last 10 years, such batteries have not been installed in smartphones.

Comfortable battery percentage

As in the case of a full discharge of the battery, the habit of charging a smartphone up to 100% can cause problems. Especially for users with the habit of putting the device to charge at night. When 100% of the battery charge is reached, the microcontroller in the smartphone automatically stops the charging process and the battery starts to slowly discharge. As soon as the battery charge drops to 99%, the controller starts charging again. And the cycle goes on - during the night, such microcycles are repeated many times, which leads to accelerated wear of the battery.

The habit of charging your smartphone overnight does not really benefit the battery.

In order to extend the life of the battery, several charging tactics have been developed. One of the most common is the 20-80 formula. It is recommended to discharge the smartphone battery to no more than 20%, to charge it up to 80% of capacity. If you manage to keep the charge throughout the day within the specified limits, the battery of the device will last much longer than usual. The 50-70 method is even better for the battery. However, it is more difficult to stick to it, because during the day there should be an outlet or a power bank at hand for quick recharging of smartphone's battery. With the "50-70" tactics, the battery life is extended by 2-4 times (according to the results of real tests).

Smartphones with capacious batteries

Temperature

The next important point is the temperature of charging. Lithium-ion and lithium-polymer batteries are extremely sensitive to both cold and overheating. Sure, many of us encountered an occasion when on frosty winter days the smartphone simply turned off while being outdoors and "came back to life" only in a warm room. You can’t immediately put such a device on charge - first you need to let it warm up to room temperature.

On cold, frosty days, a smartphone battery can drain rapidly or even suddenly fail.

The situation is similar with extremely hot environments. A "hot" battery loses capacity faster and is unstable. Optimal conditions for safe battery charging are ambient temperature from +10 °С to +30 °С. Moreover, in the summer, do not ever leave the gadget while charging in direct sunlight and do not put it under the pillow to charge.

What are the dangers of using a smartphone while charging?

While charging, it is better for the smartphone to be left alone, because during the procedure, the processes of charging and discharging the battery are simultaneously going on. Such thing negatively affects the battery life cycle. In particular, “hot” batteries suffer being intensively used - it is advisable to postpone a mobile game with high hardware requirements or video processing on a smartphone until the end of the battery charging cycle.

Cables and chargers

Original chargers and cables are best suited to keep your smartphone's battery alive. They were originally designed for a specific gadget in terms of output voltage and current. Cheap Chinese counterparts from the nearest stall often get hot, stink of melted plastic and slow down the charging process. Fortunately, controllers in the circuitry of mobile phones easily recognize "non-native" chargers and limit the voltage, together with the current strength, to the minimum power parameters.

Using original chargers and cables is the key to battery longevity.

When choosing non-original chargers and cables, preference should be given to trusted brands ( Baseus, Belkin, Hoco, etc.). Also, be sure to select a charger with similar output voltage and current parameters, which are indicated on the body of the "native" charger.

Gadget chargers

Fast charging

One of the latest trends in the smartphone industry is the implementation of fast charging technologies. And both - by wire and wirelessly. The power of some chargers has already crossed the line of 100 watts. For example, the flagship Xiaomi 12S Pro smartphone supports 120W ultra-fast wired charging (from zero to 100% in just 19 minutes) and 50W fast wireless charging.

With the 120-watt fast charging feature, the 5000 mAh battery can be fully charged in just 19 minutes.

Fast charging does not cause any harm to the battery. All thanks to a multi-stage cycle sequence - up to about 70-80% of smartphones are charged quickly enough, then the power is gradually reduced to extend battery life. Only overheating has a detrimental effect on the battery, which is why it is not recommended to use covers(especially dense ones) during fast charging. Overheating wears out the battery and the entire hardware of the gadget.

In smartphones with support of fast charging, the aforementioned chargers and cables play an extremely important role. It is better not to save on them and use only the accessories certified by the manufacturer. Chargers from "no-name" brands can wear out the battery so that a brand new smartphone will work only until noon in a single week.

Smartphones with fast charging

Charge management

A notable software feature in many advanced smartphones is the charge management system. These are special algorithms that remember the user's habits and adapt the charging process to them. When the battery charge reaches about 80-90%, the charge management system stops the charging procedure and shortly before the smartphone is disconnected from the power adapter, it charges the mobile phone battery up to 100%. The benefits of the system are most demonstrative when the battery is charged overnight.

Special algorithms remember the user's habits and adapt the smartphone battery charging process to them.

Apple, Samsung and Sony smartphones have such charging algorithms. The charging process optimization system prevents premature aging of the battery and allows you to keep the battery capacity longer.

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Properly charging a smartphone, the process of battery degradation can be significantly slowed down. Avoid charging the gadget in extreme heat or frost, do not run apps or games with high hardware requirements while the device is connected to a power source, use original chargers and cables and the battery will retain its original capacity much longer.