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Honor 90
High-End ?

Honor 90 Battery test

OTHER AVAILABLE TESTS FOR THIS DEVICE

We put the Honor 90 through our rigorous DXOMARK Battery test suite to measure its performance in autonomy, charging and efficiency. In these test results, we will break down how it fared in a variety of tests and several common use cases.

Overview

Key specifications:

  • Battery capacity: 5000 mAh
  • 66W charger (not included)
  • 6.7-inch, 1200 x 2664, 120 Hz, OLED display
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 Accelerated Edition (4 nm)
  • Tested ROM / RAM combination: 512 GB + 12 GB

Scoring

Sub-scores and attributes included in the calculations of the global score.

Honor 90
Honor 90
116
battery
112
Autonomy
116

221

109

195

108

198

130
Charging
122

224

139

212

123

205

90

194

Key performances

Charging Time
2 days 9h
Battery life
Charging Time
0h35
80% Charging time
Charging Time
1h12
Full charging time
Quick Boost
5h29 autonomy
after 5-minute charge

Pros

  • Good charging experience, taking 1 hour and 12 minutes to reach a full charge
  • Good autonomy when streaming videos
  • Decent gain in autonomy gain after a quick 5-minute charge

Cons

  • Battery level collapses after 5%
  • High discharge currents overall
  • Below-average charge efficiency
  • High residual power drain by the charger
  • Poor autonomy when testing individual usages, except when streaming videos

The Honor 90 struggled in some of our battery tests, resulting in an overall score that was just below our database average. Compared with its predecessor the Honor 70, the Honor 90 with its larger battery obtained a lower global score mainly because it was less efficient in both charge and discharge.

The autonomy performances were average, with the 5000mAh battery lasting 56 hours and 37 minutes when used moderately. When testing individual usages indoors and outdoors, the autonomy was below average. However, the autonomy when watching videos was good. Moreover, we noticed that the battery gauge was not accurate, displaying 20% and 100% when the true battery capacity was 15.7% and 92.7%, respectively. The battery level also collapsed after 5%, and the device automatically shut down 1 minute after displaying 2%.

The Honor 90’s charging experience was its main advantage. The 66W charger resulted in a good gain in autonomy of 5 hours and 29 minutes when plugging the phone in for a 5-minute charging boost. In addition, the time to fully replenish the battery was faster than average at 1 hour and 12 minutes.
However, the charge efficiency was below average, with a high residual power drain by the charger whether the fully charged phone was still plugged in or not. Discharge currents were significantly high for almost all usages such as gaming, music streaming and on the go, but low when streaming videos, indicating that the device is not well optimized.

Compared with other devices from the High-End price range ($400-$599), the Honor 90 performance was slightly below average. Its charging experience for the segment was average, but its autonomy was just below average. Its efficiency score was among the lowest we have tested for this segment.

Test Summary

About DXOMARK Battery tests: For scoring and analysis in our smartphone battery reviews, DXOMARK engineers perform a variety of objective tests over a week-long period both indoors and outdoors. (See our introductory and how we test articles for more details about our smartphone Battery protocol.)

The following section gathers key elements of our exhaustive tests and analyses performed in DXOMARK laboratories. Detailed performance evaluations under the form of reports are available upon request. Do not hesitate to contact us.

Battery Charger Wireless Display Processor
Honor 90 5000mAh 66W
(not included)
- OLED
1200 x 2664
Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1
Honor 70 4800mAh 66W
(not included)
- AMOLED
1080 x 2400
Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G+ 5G
Sony Xperia 10 V 5000mAh 21W
(not included)
30W OLED Triluminos
1080 x 2520
Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G
Google Pixel 7 4355mAh 21W
(not included)
21W OLED
1080 x 2400
Google Tensor G2

Autonomy

112

Honor 90

197

Honor X9c
How Autonomy score is composed

Autonomy score is composed of three performance sub-scores: Home / Office, On the go, and Calibrated use cases. Each sub-score comprises the results of a comprehensive range of tests for measuring autonomy in all kinds of real-life scenarios.

Light Usage
80h
Light Usage
Active: 2h30/day
Moderate Usage
57h
Moderate Usage
Active: 4h/day
Intense Usage
36h
Intense Usage
Active: 7h/day

Home/Office

116

Honor 90

221

Honor X7b

A robot housed in a Faraday cage performs a set of touch-based user actions during what we call our “typical usage scenario” (TUS) — making calls, video streaming, etc. — 4 hours of active use over the course of a 16-hour period, plus 8 hours of “sleep.” The robot repeats this set of actions every day until the device runs out of power.

Typical Usage Scenario discharge curves

On the go

109

Honor 90

195

Samsung Galaxy M51

Using a smartphone on the go takes a toll on autonomy because of extra “hidden” demands, such as the continuous signaling associated with cellphone network selection, for example. DXOMARK Battery experts take the phone outdoors and perform a precisely defined set of activities while following the same three-hour travel itinerary (walking, taking the bus, the subway…) for each device

Autonomy for on the go use cases (full charge)

Calibrated

108

Honor 90

198

Samsung Galaxy M51

For this series of tests, the smartphone returns to the Faraday cage and our robots repeatedly perform actions linked to one specific use case (such as gaming, video streaming, etc.) at a time. Starting from an 80% charge, all devices are tested until they have expended at least 5% of their battery power.

Autonomy for calibrated use cases (full charge)

Charging

130

Honor 90

218

Realme GT Neo 5 (240W)
How Charging score is composed

Charging is fully part of the overall battery experience. In some situations where autonomy is at a minimum, knowing how fast you can charge becomes a concern. The DXOMARK Battery charging score is composed of two sub-scores, (1) Full charge and (2) Quick boost.

Wired
Wired
71%
in 30 min
0h35
0 - 80%
1h12
Full charge

Full charge

122

Honor 90

224

Realme GT Neo 5 (240W)

Full charge tests assess the reliability of the battery power gauge; measure how long and how much power the battery takes to charge from zero to 80% capacity, from 80 to 100% as shown by the UI, and until an actual full charge.

Power consumption and battery level during full charge
The charging curves, in wired and wireless (if available) showing the evolution of the battery level indicator as well as the power consumption in watts during the stages of charging toward full capacity.
Time to full charge
The time to full charge chart breaks down the necessary time to reach 80%, 100% and full charge.

Quick boost

139

Honor 90

212

Realme GT Neo 5 (240W)

With the phone at different charge levels (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%), Quick boost tests measure the amount of charge the battery receives after being plugged in for 5 minutes. The chart here compares the average autonomy gain from a quick 5-minute charge.

Average autonomy gain for a 5 minute charge (wired)

Efficiency

100

Honor 90

154

Oppo Reno6 5G
How Efficiency score is composed

The DXOMARK power efficiency score consists of two sub-scores, Charge up and Discharge rate, both of which combine data obtained during robot-based typical usage scenario, calibrated tests and charging evaluation, taking into consideration the device’s battery capacity. DXOMARK calculate the annual power consumption of the product, shown on below graph, which is representative of the overall efficiency during a charge and when in use.

Annual Consumption Honor 90
4.7 kWh
Efficient
Good
Bad
Inefficient

Charge up

123

Honor 90

205

Nubia RedMagic 7 Pro

The charge up sub-score is a combination of four factors: the overall efficiency of a full charge, related to how much energy you need to fill up the battery compared to the energy that the battery can provide; the efficiency of the travel adapter when it comes to transferring power from an outlet to your phone; the residual consumption when your phone is fully charged and still plugged into the charger; and the residual consumption of the charger itself, when the smartphone is disconnected from it. The chart here below shows the overall efficiency of a full charge in %.

Overall charge efficiency

Discharge

90

Honor 90

194

Apple iPhone 14 Pro

The discharge subscore rates the speed of a battery’s discharge during a test, which is independent of the battery’s capacity. It is the ratio of a battery’s capacity divided by its autonomy. A small-capacity battery could have the same autonomy as a large-capacity battery, indicating that the device is well-optimized, with a low discharge rate.

Average discharge current

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