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Samsung Galaxy S21: What to know about battery life and battery sizes

With three phones come three battery sizes.

samsung-galaxy-s21-plus-ultra-06173
Drew Evans/CNET

This story is part of Samsung Event, CNET's collection of news, tips and advice around Samsung's most popular products.

It's the last day of CES, and Samsung's latest flagship phone, the Galaxy S21, is here after being officially unveiled Thursday at Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event. The lineup includes three different variants of the phone in different sizes -- the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S21 Plus and Galaxy S21 Ultra -- each of which will have a different battery size.

As rumors predicted, the base S21 will have a 4,000-mAh battery powering its 6.2-inch screen. The S21 Plus will increase that size to 6.7 inches and in so doing will squeeze a higher capacity 4,800-mAh battery inside. The S21 Ultra will be the biggest of the three at 6.8 inches and will pack a 5,000-mAh battery.

Read more: Why now is the worst time to buy the Samsung Galaxy S20

That's pretty much in line with the battery sizes used in the S20 series: The base model S20 has a 4,000-mAh cell and the S20 Ultra ups that to 5,000 mAh. We hope to see similar performance when it comes to battery life. You probably won't struggle to get through a day with careful usage, but streaming video for ages and taking lots of photos and videos will likely mean you'll need to recharge in the evening. As always, we'll be putting the phones through our usual array of battery tests when we get hold of them. 

For more Samsung news, check out everything Samsung announced at its Galaxy Unpacked event.

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