The new iPhone 18 Pro Max recently faced off against top Android competition in a standardized battery drain test conducted by TechDroider. The flagship went up against rivals including the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, Google Pixel 11 Pro XL, Xiaomi 17 Pro Max, and OnePlus 15. While Apple took an early lead during gaming, the final runtimes ended with unexpected results.
To keep things fair, every smartphone ran identical screen brightness settings and faced the same workload. The test cycled through heavy tasks such as PUBG gaming, YouTube streaming at 1080p and 60 fps, browsing social feeds, and continuous video recording until complete battery death.
During the opening 3 hour gaming session in PUBG, the iPhone 18 Pro Max took first place by preserving 82% of its charge. The Google Pixel 11 Pro XL struggled early on, dropping down to 67%. Apple held onto the top spot through the next 4 hours of YouTube playback, sitting at 70% while the Pixel lost half of its battery. But the momentum shifted quickly once the test moved past video streaming.
The OnePlus 15 ended up taking the overall victory, surviving for 13 hours 33 minutes. The iPhone 18 Pro Max secured second place with 11 hours 40 minutes, finishing just 1 minute ahead of the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max at 11 hours 39 minutes. Further down the pack, the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra clocked in at 11 hours 4 minutes, narrowly beating the older iPhone 17 Pro Max at 11 hours 3 minutes. The Google Pixel 11 Pro XL finished last with 10 hours 49 minutes of total uptime.
These figures reveal an interesting shift when compared against previous test cycles from TechDroider. When tested 10 months ago, the older iPhone 17 Pro Max lasted 13 hours 2 minutes, whereas the new 18 Pro Max fell well short of that mark. The OnePlus 15 managed to hold steady across different testing periods, having logged 13 hours 40 minutes in older rounds. Why the latest Apple hardware failed to match previous generation endurance numbers remains a big talking point for prospective buyers.
