Sony Xperia 1 VI Battery and charging test results: Top-notch!

The Sony Xperia arrives with a standard 5,000mAh battery, which is par for the course with other devices of similar 6.5" size. 

Paired with the efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, the latest Xperia flagship hints at awesome battery life, and there's only one way to see if this one holds true: run it through our exhaustive battery tests.

As per our tests, the Xperia 1 VI achieves an above-average battery result. The latest Sony flagship truly excels in our gaming and web browsing tests, where it shines very bright, but the video streaming result is noticeably lower than the average. This means that it might not be your best choice if you love streaming Netflix on your device. 

Let's break down these results test by test. 

First up, in our dedicated web browsing test, which aims to simulate an everyday browsing experience with the display set at 200 nits, the Sony Xperia 1 VI achieves a very decent result of 18 hours and 54 minutes, which is in-between the OnePlus 12 and the iPhone 15 Pro Max in our test. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is slightly ahead.

Interestingly, you may notice the strikingly lower result achieved by the Sony Xperia 1 V. We don't really have a rational explanation for that discrepancy: it's possible that the previous Sony phone has processed the test very differently. 

Moving on to the video streaming test, which loops through a video playlist (with the screen once again set at 200 nits), the Xperia 1 VI achieves its lowest result. It scored 7 hours and 46 minutes, which isn't bad at all, but it is lower than what the average. The new Sony phone also successfully beats its predecessor in this test, which is a great thing to see. 

However, while technically the lowest for the Xperia, it is by no means a disappointing result. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has slightly better battery life, but not that much. The iPhone 15 Pro Max and the OnePlus 12 are way ahead, with the latter in particular achieving an impressive result of nearly 14 hours. 

Finally, in our 3D gaming test, the Xperia 1 VI truly dominates over the competition with the staggering result of 14 hours and 3 minutes, which is among the highest gaming results a flagship has achieved! 

Indeed, all rivals are left in the dust, with the closest runner-up being the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Other Android flagships like the Galaxy S24 Ultra and OnePlus 12 are way, way behind. 

This means that if you're into gaming, the new Xperia might be just up your alley when it comes to endurance.

In terms of charging, the Sony Xperia 1 VI comes with 30W wired charging on board, and as per our tests, that's good enough to fully juice up the phone in 81 minutes, which isn't very fast, but we've also seen slower. A brief 15-minute charge will provide 27% of battery, while half an hour will charge your device up to 54%, which is okay-ish. 

There's no wireless charging on the Sony Xperia 1 VI.