Nintendo Switch battery lasts 5 hours at max brightness

Battery life of Nintendo's new Switch handheld-console hybrid is always a concern, but a recent test shows that the Switch can last more than 5 hours at full brightness before it dies--provided you stay only on the homescreen and don't play any games.

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The Nintendo Switch has a decently sized 4310mAh internal battery that Nintendo says can provide up to 6 hours of life on a single charge. We've seen that the Switch can last over 3 hours while playing Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but what about when you're not gaming? YouTuber FamilyGamerTV conducted a recent test to find out.

The test saw 20 mobile devices all with varying battery life, power efficiency and process architectures face off to see which lasted the longest. All of the devices were connected to Wi-Fi and turned up to maximum brightness.

Read Also: Nintendo Switch battery life analysis

The Nintendo Switch clocked in at 5 hours and 12 minutes, outlasting the PS Vita's 2210mAh battery and the massive 6930mAh battery of the iPad 2 and monster 8600mAh battery of the iPad Air. Check the full table to see how the Switch compared against other devices including iPad tablets.

It's worth mentioning that the batteries of these devices are likely not new, except for the Switch, so there's probably quite a fair bit of depreciation going on here. We don't know how old these devices are, how old their batteries are, and how many times they've been recharged, so this table comparison is far from exact.

The table below has the results of the test as well as the battery sizes of each device.

• DSi - 2.41hrs - 850 mAh
• 3DS - 3.25hrs - 1300 mAh
• iPod Touch 2 - 3.39hrs 789 mAh
• 2DS - 3.55hrs 1399 mAh
• Game Boy Advance SP - 3.59hrs - 2x AA's / variable; 2,500 mAh or 1,200 to 1,900 mAh
• iPad 2 - 4.00hrs - 6930 mAh
• iPad Air - 4.04hrs - 8600mAh
• New 3DS - 4.04hrs - 1400mAh
• iPod Touch 3 - 4.13hrs - 789 mAh
• DS Lite - 4.51hrs
• PSP - 4.56hrs - 1200mAh
• GBA Micro - 4.57hrs - 460mAh
• PlayStation Vita - 5.01hrs - 2210mAh
• Nintendo Switch - 5.12hrs - 4310mAh
• iPad Mini 2 - 5.39hrs - 6470mAh
• DS - 6.51hrs - 850mAh
• New 3DS (XL Mugen Battery) - 15.02hrs - 6250mAh
• GBA - 29.32hrs - 600mAh
• Game Boy - 31.12hrs - 2x AA's / variable; 2,500 mAh or 1,200 to 1,900 mAh
• Game Boy Colour - 35.45hrs - 2x AA's / variable; 2,500 mAh or 1,200 to 1,900 mAh

The Nintendo Switch will launch on March 3, 2017 for $299. Check below for a massive catalog of Switch coverage.

Everything we know about the Nintendo Switch:

• Nintendo Switch runs cool, about 37C under load
• Nintendo Switch has 25.9 GB available memory, OS is 4GB
• Nintendo Switch may use 4GB LPDDR4 1600MHz RAM
• Early Nintendo Switch consoles were actually stolen
• Nintendo won't make you rebuy eShop games on the Switch
• Nintendo Switch 480p downscale hint at Gamecube VC games
• Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be a playground of fun
• Satoru Iwata put lots of effort into the Nintendo Switch
• Nintendo Switch supports wireless Bluetooth headsets
• Zelda: Breath of the Wild has $20 season pass
• Nintendo Switch uses 20nm Maxwell Tegra SoC
• Nintendo Switch easy for devs, light years past Wii U
• Hitman dev may be working on new IP for Nintendo Switch
• Nintendo Switch could get Wii U game remasters
• 3DS supported alongside Switch 'for the time being'
• Devs can 'easily' port PC games to the Nintendo Switch
• Nintendo Switch JoyCons have 525mAh lithium ion battery
• Nintendo Switch is the gamer's dream, says Hideo Kojima
• Zelda: Breath of the Wild is about doing things your way
• Nintendo Switch has over 100 games in development
• Nintendo Switch paid online service only costs $26 a year
• Nintendo Switch appeals to Japanese smartphone gamers
• New Zelda is based on three words 'climb, live, protect'
• EA: Nintendo listening to third-party Switch game devs
• First footage of Nintendo Switch's touchscreen in action
• Nintendo Switch games lineup: a visual guide
• Nintendo Switch replaces Wii U on Nintendo homesite
• Nintendo Switch battery life analysis
• Resident Evil 7 isn't coming to Nintendo Switch
• Zelda: Breath of the Wild's Hyrule is bigger than Skyrim
• Zelda: Breath of the Wild has an awesome physics engine
• Switch's 4310mAh battery takes 3 hours to fully recharge
• Could the Nintendo Switch's hit full potential and boost CPU/GPU power via NVIDIA's cloud servers
• Nintendo Switch will have 'steady pacing of content'
• Switch is all about 'playing games anywhere with anyone'
• Nintendo Switch will have 'steady pacing of content'
• Putting Nintendo Switch launch games into perspective
• Stock Nintendo Switch JoyConGrip won't recharge JoyCons
• The new Zelda game takes up nearly half Switch's storage
• Zelda: Breath of the Wild runs at 900p 30FPS docked, 720p 30FPS undocked
• Nintendo Switch supports 2TB Micro SDXC cards
• Nintendo Switch online chat requires smartphone app
• Here's why Nintendo Switch doesn't come with any games
• Nintendo will soon charging gamers to play online multiplayer via subscription service
• Nintendo Switch UI revealed, let's take a closer look
• Nintendo Switch touchscreen has haptic feedback tech
• Nintendo stock drops after Switch unveil event
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on Switch runs at 1080p when docked
• Nintendo Switch hardware specs revealed
• Nintendo Switch costs $299, coming March 3
• Nintendo Switch battery life is 2.5 hours to 6 hours
• New Mario: Odyssey game won't be Nintendo Switch launch title
• Zelda: Breath of the Wild is Switch launch game

Last updated: Jun 16, 2020 at 04:29 pm CDT