Why can the last 20% of a phone battery seem to disappear faster?

My phone sometimes seems to sit at 70–80% forever, then race through the last 20%.

Is the battery actually draining faster near empty, or is the percentage mainly an estimate that gets less reliable with load, temperature and battery age?

  • batteries
  • phones
  • technology
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1 reply from the original poster, shown with the conversation around them.

  1. VC
    veli.9
    4 points

    2 replies

    One thing that confused me was that the drain still depends on what the phone is doing. A bright screen, weak signal, or a heavy app can mak...

    42 replies

    One thing that confused me was that the drain still depends on what the phone is doing. A bright screen, weak signal, or a heavy app can make the last part go fast enough that it feels like the battery itself changed personality.

    4
    1. RP
      pop-rOP
      3 points

      So it’s more that the meter is less trustworthy at the edges, plus the phone may be working harder, not that the battery chemistry suddenly becomes rude at 19%?

      3

        That’s how I’d put it, yes. The chemistry is still changing gradually, but the percentage display is doing a lot of estimation.