The OnePlus 9 Pro arrived on the market in March 2021. Coming with many nice features, including a Hasselblad camera module, it fits in our Ultra-Premium ($800 and higher) segment. Let’s see how it did in our Battery protocol tests.
Key specifications:
- Battery capacity: 4500 mAh
- 65W charger, 50W wireless
- 6.7-inch, 1440 x 3216, 120 Hz AMOLED display
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm) chipset
- Tested ROM / RAM combination: 256 GB + 12 GB
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. This article highlights the most important results of our testing. (See our introductory and how we test articles for more details about our smartphone Battery protocol.)
Test summary
Scoring
Sub-scores and attributes included in the calculations of the global score.

OnePlus 9 Pro
Key performances
These key points are derived from the lab measurements during testing and do not figure into the overall score. The lab measurements, however, are used for the overall score.
Pros
- Good charging experience
- Excellent wireless charging performance
Cons
- Very high consumption for 4G music streaming and gaming
- Below-average performance in autonomy tests
OnePlus 9 Pro’s overall score suggests an average performance for a device in its price range; however, it owes a lot to its very fast charging time. Among its segment competitors in this review, it lags considerably behind the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max in terms of autonomy and efficiency, and a bit behind the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (Snapdragon) in terms of autonomy.
Battery capacity, tested charger, display type and resolution, and processor specifications for all three devices are shown in the table below.
OnePlus 9 Pro | Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) | Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max | |
Battery capacity | 4500 mAh | 5000 mAh | 4352 mAh |
Charger
Wireless |
65W 50W |
25W (not included)
15W |
20W (not included) 15W |
Display type | AMOLED | AMOLED | AMOLED |
Display resolution | 1440 x 3216* | 1440 x 3200* | 1284 x 2778 |
Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G 5 nm | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G 5 nm | Apple A15 Bionic 5 nm |
*Note that while the OnePlus 9 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) are equipped with QHD display screens, their default UI resolution is FHD only (1080 x 2412 for the OnePlus and 1080 x 2400 for the Samsung).
Autonomy (46)
How long a battery charge lasts depends not only on battery capacity but also on other aspects of the phone’s hardware and software. The DXOMARK Battery autonomy score is composed of three performance sub-scores: (1) Stationary, (2) On the go, and (3) 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.
As of this writing, the OnePlus 9 Pro has the lowest score for Autonomy among all Ultra-Premium devices.
Battery Life (moderate)
Battery Life (moderate)
Stationary
OnePlus 9 Pro
46
104
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.
The OnePlus 9 Pro put in a disappointing performance in our Typical Usage Scenario tests, offering only 44 hours of autonomy. However, the OnePlus lost only 2% of its charge at night; while that puts it behind the iPhone 13 Pro Max (1% lost), it’s better than the S21 Ultra (Snapdragon), which lost on average 3.67% at night.
On the go
OnePlus 9 Pro
56
96
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 outside and perform a precisely defined set of activities while following the same three-hour travel itinerary for each device.
The OnePlus 9 Pro did better in our on the go tests, but still came in behind the other two devices in all categories except for camera, where it beat the Samsung. Nevertheless, its results are below-average in terms of all Ultra-Premium devices in our database.
Calibrated
OnePlus 9 Pro
53
100
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.
Here again, the OnePlus 9 Pro came in behind its Apple and Samsung competitors, especially when gaming and streaming music via 4G.
Charging (99)
The DXOMARK Battery charging score is composed of two sub-scores, Full charge and Quick boost. Full charge tests assess the reliability of the battery power gauge; measure how long it takes to charge a battery from zero to 80% capacity and from 80 to 100%; and measure how long and how much power the battery takes to go from an indicated 100% to an actual full charge. 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 OnePlus 9 Pro comes with a 65W charger which allows it to significantly outperform both the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (Snapdragon) with their respective 20W and 25W chargers.
Full charge
OnePlus 9 Pro
107
121
The OnePlus 9 Pro takes 53 minutes to fully charge its battery, versus 2 hours 9 minutes for the iPhone 13 Pro Max and 1 hour 27 minutes for the S21 Ultra Snapdragon.
Among the three devices, OnePlus 9 Pro is the fastest for wireless charging, taking 1 hour 10 minutes versus 2 hours 41 minutes for the Apple and 2 hours 27 minutes for the Samsung.
Charging Time 0-80%
Charging Time 0-80%
Quick boost
OnePlus 9 Pro
85
111
By plugging in the OnePlus 9 Pro smartphone for 5 minutes, users will gain more than 5 hours of autonomy on average, which is 2 hours more than both the Samsung and Apple devices.
OnePlus 9 Pro | Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) | Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max | ||
Autonomy boost (hh:mm) | 20% | 5:35 | 3:24 | 3:11 |
40% | 5:07 | 3:22 | 3:18 | |
60% | 4:15 | 2:54 | 3:02 | |
80% | 2:48 | 2:11 | 1:35 | |
Percentage boost | 20% | 18.7 % | 9.2 % | 6.3 % |
40% | 17.2 % | 9.1 % | 6.5 % | |
60% | 14.2 % | 7.8 % | 6 % | |
80% | 9.4 % | 5.9 % | 3.1 % | |
Energy consumed | 20% | 4096 mWh | 2279 mWh | 1621 mWh |
40% | 3764 mWh | 2262 mWh | 1678 mWh | |
60% | 3118 mWh | 1950 mWh | 1545 mWh | |
80% | 2057 mWh | 1468 mWh | 802 mWh |
Efficiency (63)
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 testing, outdoor mobility testing, charging evaluation, and power measurements, and then take into consideration the device’s battery capacity.
The OnePlus 9 Pro shows below-average efficiency performance compared to other Ultra-Premium devices in our database, behind the Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max by 32 points and the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (Snapdragon) by 9 points.
Charge up
OnePlus 9 Pro
80
105
At 79.5%, the OnePlus 9 Pro has a quite efficient charging system, better than the Samsung at 77.8% and considerably better than the Apple at 65.2%. The charger is well-built and efficient, but dissipates a lot of energy while the phone is still attached after the battery is full.
Discharge
OnePlus 9 Pro
60
121
The OnePlus 9 Pro did poorly with 4G music streaming and when idle, but its other discharge test results were average within the Ultra-Premium segment.
Conclusion
The OnePlus 9 Pro’s battery performance was below average in terms of autonomy and efficiency; however, it comes with a fast charger and offers a very good charging experience.
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