Smartphones  >  Realme C11  >  Battery Test Results
essential ?

Realme C11 Battery test: Autonomy strength when on the go

This device has been retested in the latest version of our protocol. Overall, sub-scores and attributes are up to date. For detailed information, check the What’s New article

Launched on the market in June 2020 at a price point under $200, the Realme C11 fits in our Essential segment and features a large-capacity 5000 mAh battery.

We recently put the Realme C11 through all the tests of our new Battery protocol, and provide the key points of our evaluation here.

Key specifications:

  • Battery capacity: 5000 mAh
  • 10W charger + micro USB cable included
  • 6.5-inch, 720 x 1600, 60 Hz, HD+ IPS LCD display
  • Mediatek Helio G35 (12 nm) chipset
  • Tested ROM / RAM combination: 128 GB + 4 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.


Realme C11
99
battery
118
Autonomy
115

221

140

195

116

198

72

224

80

212

95

205

99

194

Key performances

Charging Time
2 days 11h
Battery life
Charging Time
1h56
80% Charging time
Charging Time
3h06
Full charging time
Quick Boost
1h24 autonomy
after 5-minute charge
Please be aware that beyond this point, we have not modified the initial test results. While data and products remain fully comparable, you might encounter mentions and references to the previous scores.

Pros

  • Provides more than 2 days of autonomy with moderate use
  • Strong performance in on the go use cases

Cons

  • Slow charging due to small 10W charger
  • Poor charging efficiency

The Realme C11’s overall score of 61 puts it in the lower half of the rankings in our global database thus far, but it nonetheless put in a good showing among other Essential-segment devices, with satisfactory performance in our autonomy tests. Its weakest points are in charging, as the 10W charger and micro-USB cable included in the box do not power up the phone either quickly or efficiently.

We compared the Realme C11’s performance in several key categories with two other Essential segment devices, the Xiaomi Redmi 9 and the Vivo Y20s; battery capacity, charger, display type and resolution, and processor specifications for all three devices are shown in the table below.

Realme C11

Xiaomi Redmi 9

Vivo Y20s

Battery (mAh)

5000

5200

5000

Charger (W)

10W

10W

18W

Display type

IPS LCD

IPS LCD

IPS LCD

Resolution

720 x 1560

1080 x 2340

720 x 1600

Processor

Mediatek Helio G35 (12 nm)

Mediatek Helio G80 (12 nm)

Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 (11 nm)

Autonomy (64)

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. 

Light Usage
85h
Light Usage
Active: 2h30/day
Moderate Usage
59h
Moderate Usage
Active: 4h/day
Intense Usage
36h
Intense Usage
Active: 7h/day

With an overall Autonomy score of 64, the Realme C11 comes in 12 points behind the Vivo Y20s (76) and 9 points ahead of the Xiaomi Redmi 9 (55).  Let’s look at some details.

Stationary

Realme C11

67

104

Vivo Y72 5G
Best: Vivo Y72 5G (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. 

After being fully charged, the Realme C11 took exactly 61 hours to run out of power in our TUS testing. Although this was better by 8 hours than the Xiaomi Redmi 9, it was 10 hours less than the Vivo Y20s.

Typical Usage Scenario discharge curves

On the go

Realme C11

72

96

Samsung Galaxy M51
Best: Samsung Galaxy M51 (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.

Realme C11 does well in autonomy, especially when on the go.

The Realme C11’s On the go performance was quite similar to that of the Vivo Y20s, with good showings in all use cases.

Autonomy for on the go use cases (full charge)

Calibrated

Realme C11

62

100

Samsung Galaxy M51
Best: Samsung Galaxy M51 (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.

The Realme C11’s battery struggled in a gaming use case.

The Realme C11 put in a good overall performance in our calibrated use testing, showing particularly good results in music streaming compared to its competitors. However, its autonony when gaming as very low.

Autonomy for calibrated use cases (full charge)

Charging (52)

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. 

Wired
Wired
20%
in 30 min
1h56
0 - 80%
3h06
Full charge
Power consumption and battery level during full charge

Full charge

Realme C11

53

121

Black Shark 5 Pro
Best: Black Shark 5 Pro (121)

Due to its small 10W charger and use of a micro-USB cable, it takes the Realme C11 more than three hours to achieve a full charge, putting it on par with the Redmi 9; however, the C11’s time of 1 hour 55 minutes to go from zero to 80% full is the worst in our database so far (the Redmi beats it by a half-hour, though it takes longer for the Redmi to go from 80% to 100% than for the Realme).

Time to full charge

Quick boost

Realme C11

54

111

Realme GT Neo 3
Best: Realme GT Neo 3 (111)

Plugging in the Realme smartphone for 5 minutes (regardless of the amount of power left in the battery) will provide about 1 hour and 25 minutes of autonomy, which is poor but not unexpected, given the 10W charger.

Realme C11 Xiaomi Redmi 9 Vivo Y20s
Autonomy boost (hh:mm) 20%1:24 1:16 2:45
40%1:24 1:17 2:36
60%1:24 1:21 2:32
80%1:22 1:18 1:45
Percentage boost 20%3.6 %3.6 %5.5 %
40%3.6 %3.7 %5.2 %
60%3.6 %3.9 %5.1 %
80%3.5 %3.7 %3.5 %
Energy consumed 20%990 mWh963 mWh1508 mWh
40%994 mWh976 mWh1425 mWh
60%999 mWh1027 mWh1387 mWh
80%971 mWh988 mWh962 mWh

Efficiency (64)

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.

Charge up

Realme C11

59

105

Nubia RedMagic 7 Pro
Best: Nubia RedMagic 7 Pro (105)

The Realme’s charger efficiency is quite low at 84.7% — not as low as the Redmi 9 (82.6%), but a bit behind the Vivo Y20s (85.4). That said, the Realme C11’s in-box charger has the lowest power consumption compared to its rivals whether the smartphone is plugged in or unplugged.

Discharge

Realme C11

71

121

Apple iPhone 13 Pro
Best: Apple iPhone 13 Pro (121)

The Realme C11 has average power consumption both during active hours and slightly more than average at night. It does very well for both 3G calling and music streaming. That said, it consumes the most power in our gaming use case.

Conclusion

The Realme C11 comes in second among the Essential devices in this comparison for autonomy (and second overall), offering 58 hours of average use, and more than three days with light use. Where it struggles is with charging, as its included 10W charger and micro-USB cord (instead of the USB-C cord like its competitors) simply cannot fill up its large 5000 mAh battery quickly nor efficiently.


In the Press

DXOMARK encourages its readers to share comments on the articles. To read or post comments, Disqus cookies are required. Change your Cookies Preferences and read more about our Comment Policy.