Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus vs Pixel 10 Pro XL Real-World Battery Test

If there’s one phone spec that matters most, it’s battery life. Even if a new model includes an AI bot to help you work, takes the most amazing photos ever, and runs fast enough for high-octane games, it’s pretty useless if it’s always on a charger.

I tend to skip charging during my normal work day and evenings, and just drop a phone on a wireless pad to charge overnight. My expectation? That every newer phone lasts all day. In fact, many modern phones can last well over 20 hours or more, but that really depends on what you do with the device.

For example, Google estimates that the new Pixel 10 Pro XL should last 24 hours. Samsung notes that the Galaxy S26+ should last 31 hours of continuous video streaming. Both brands come with a warning that essentially says: it depends on how you use the phone. You may also need to enable battery saver mode and lower the brightness.

However, I wasn’t interested in extending battery life as long as humanly possible. I wanted to see what would happen if I used the Pixel 10 Pro XL and Galaxy S26+ for normal activities, like listening to music, taking photos and posting them to social media, and finding a route using the GPS. I set both phones to full brightness and a 30 second screen timeout. Here’s what I discovered after two full days of testing.

A day with the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL

10.30 am: Catch up on my workk

I started my day with the most boring activity ever: checking my email. It was about 10:30 am and I answered a few messages with Gmail and then switched to ClickUp, a task management app.

While these activities were using my Google Fi cellular connection, I turned off the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections. After about an hour I felt good about my progress. I was humming along with 90% battery life before I started heavy usage.

11.30 am: Off for a bike ride

John Brandon / Foundry

I was on holiday in Austria and decided to cycle along the Danube from Enns to Grein, which is about 35 kilometers. This was the perfect way to test a phone, because I knew I’d be pedaling along for a while, listening to the Tidal app for a few hours, taking photos and posting them to Facebook, and constantly using Google Maps to make sure I got the right route.

This type of battery draining activity is quite common for me. I mostly use my phone as an accessory for life, not for doomscrolling. Tucked away in my pocket, I was still able to use the Tidal app with my AirPods Pro and the GPS for routing while enjoying the scenery. However, by the time I arrived in Grein three hours later, the battery was down to 50%.

2:30 p.m.: Go out for dinner and take the train

John Brandon / Foundry

I decided to turn off the GPS for the rest of the day because I didn’t need Google Maps anymore. (To do this, go to Settings, then select Location and turn it off.) I also stopped listening to Radiohead and Rosalía.

I grabbed some lunch and an ice cream cone in Grein and then hopped on the train back to Enns. During those two hours I checked Facebook and posted some photos. I also chatted with some friends on Facebook Messenger, using the train’s Wi-Fi signal.

Using a signal on your phone drains the battery faster, and Facebook is known to consume battery power. By the time I reached my destination, I had only reached 20% of the remaining battery life.

9:15 p.m.: Wrap up of the dayj

John Brandon / Foundry

After checking my email a few more times at the end of the day and then posting a few more photos, I noticed that the Pixel 10 Pro XL was only about 4% charged – well under the 24-hour estimate I mentioned above, but thankfully still active after almost 11 hours.

However, I had pushed hard. I used the GPS, played music, took pictures and scrolled through Facebook. I was ready to see the Samsung S26+ perform much the same the next day.

A day with the Samsung Galaxy S26+

10:30 am: Check email

John Brandon / Foundry

Once the Galaxy S26+ was fully charged, I turned it on at 10:30 AM the next day and spent an hour checking Gmail and the ClickUp app, similar to how I used the Pixel 10 Pro XL. These apps don’t drain the battery much and are not processor intensive.

I didn’t need to listen to music, so I turned off Bluetooth, as I had done with the Pixel 10 Pro XL. Amazingly, the phone was still saying 96% when I was ready to start my adventures.

11:30 am: Drive to the zoo

John Brandon / Foundry

Instead of cycling, I decided to ride to a nearby zoo. This activity drained the battery quite a bit as it uses the location service on the S26+. I had some errands to run, so I added several waypoints along the way and played the Tidal app through the car stereo jack.

To make sure I was comparing apples to apples, I also stopped a few times during my ride to take photos, post them to social media, and check my feeds. All in all it was a three hour trip, including lunch and some sightseeing.

By the time I got to the zoo I had a 60% battery charge. This meant that both phones were almost half charged after this intensive use.

2:30 PM: Wander around all afternoon

John Brandon / Foundry

I finally arrived at the zoo that afternoon at 2:30 PM, about the same time of day when the Pixel 10 Pro XL’s battery life had dropped to 50%. Just like when I was in Grein the day before I used the Pixel, I took dozens of photos and posted them on Facebook.

I also checked in with friends and colleagues via the Messenger app. I also used the cellular and other wireless connections about as much as the Pixel 10 Pro XL.

However, this wasn’t intended as a benchmark test: I just wanted to use the S26+ all day as I normally would and see if it kept running well into the evening.

Surprisingly, the S26+ performed significantly better than the Pixel 10 Pro XL. By noon the phone was at 40%. It was not in battery saver mode and the screen was still at full brightness.

After dinner the phone was down to 30% and at 10pm that evening it was still at 25%. In the morning the S26+ lasted another five hours! Fittingly, the S26+ lasted a whopping 26 hours.

Who is the battery life champion?

I decided to test the Pixel 10 Pro XL again as a health check. I used the phone all day to take photos, listen to music and for GPS routing and duplicated the results. The Pixel 10 Pro XL lasted about 11 hours again. I also tested the S26+ again for a whole day and it lasted until lunch the next day (admittedly, it just sat on the table all night).

Ultimately, the Samsung Galaxy S26+ was the battery life champion. The phone lasted well over 24 hours, while the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL only lasted about 11-12 hours. It means I’d be much more likely to use the S26+ if the goal is to make a phone last all day – and then some.

Find our recommendations for the best battery life in our roundup of the best phones we’ve tested.