Smartphone users have debated whether the WiFi network drains more battery power than the 4G or 5G network since the era of 2G and Edge networks. Questions like turning off the WiFi network and just keeping the mobile data will help retain the battery percentage. In the real world, we have tested both the WiFi and 5G network on our smartphone and have found some fantastic results that we are going to share with you in this article.
Nowadays, most of the devices are heavily optimized, and they are specifically designed for 4G and 5G. Over the years, the smartphone industry has seen many upgrades over battery size, and people are attracted to it.
While many brands such as Qualcomm, Mediatek, etc., are focusing on most of the significant smartphones like battery, display, and performance, they still cannot figure out how to optimize the battery consumption over network usage. 4G and 5G indeed consumes a large amount of power as they also provide high-speed internet connection on the go.
Why Does 4G/5G Consume More Battery Than WiFi?
Many of the users on my blog have asked me that “Why does my new 4G enabled smartphone is draining the battery so fast?” To answer this simple question, they counter question me that my smartphone has a larger battery than my previous smartphone. Well, that is entirely true that your device has a massive battery. It has also upgraded to a higher frequency network, which consumes battery as it provides you with a stable and faster internet connection.
Although this cannot be the only reason to prove the logic behind the consumption of more battery power in 4G/5G enabled smartphones, there are several other reasons to hold upon:
- At the moment, many wireless providers such as Airtel, Jio have set up their 4G/5G enabled machines in various places around the cities to connect both the 4G and 5G networks on a device. This means that your smartphone is trying hard to maintain a connection and therefore it is ending up using more battery resources to maintain a stable connection.
- Whenever you are making calls or receiving any text messages, the 4G network has to pause and due to this continuous changing of the radio frequency, there is an extreme strain on the battery power.
- One of the more common reasons is “Travelling”. This is a very simple and proven reason why your battery drains faster. When you are travelling, your smartphone has to switch to multiple mobile towers so that you can stay connected to the network and receive text messages and calls. The switching of the network from one tower to another is called “handover”. Airtel and Jio have configured (LTE to EV-DO) things in a way, the handover consumes more battery than on idle mode (connected to a single tower).
While we cannot blame 4G for your phone needing to be charged twice a day, it is the generic way these devices are designed and configured for network usage. Also, it depends on the operating system of the smartphone which is designed for better connectivity and battery consumption. We have seen custom ROMS doing a great job at saving the battery power in Android-based smartphones.
How To Save Battery Life In Android and iOS Devices
There are many ways to save the battery backup of your device and it is common in both Android and iOS devices. Whenever you are not connected to an active WiFi network, it is best to disable the WiFi connection and utilize the mobile data. Otherwise, your smartphone will tend to search for an open WiFi connection and in this process, you may lose more battery power.
When you’re travelling on a train or aeroplane, your device may not be in the WiFi, 4G or 5G range. The best suggestion would be to put your smartphone on Airplane Mode until you get a stable or active coverage. As we discussed above, the constant searching of a signal on your device consumes more battery.
Final Words
Summing up the things, for saving the battery backup on your device always try to stay connected to an active WiFi network for best results. Whenever you find that the WiFi connection is not stable and the signal is weak, you must disable the WiFi network on your mobile. Lastly, when you are travelling and not in a range of any connection, enable the Airplane Mode to save more battery power.