In recent years, the capacity of powerbanks—also known as power chargers—has steadily increased. The reason for this is simple: the battery capacity of smartphones is also growing, and now even laptops can be charged via a powerbank. Many people work on the go and therefore rely on their mobile devices. We want to explain what mAh specifications mean for powerbanks and mobile devices and provide an overview of common smartphones and their battery capacities.
What Does mAh Mean?
The mAh specification for powerbanks and smartphone batteries stands for milliampere-hours. It is a simple unit that indicates how many milliampere-hours can be stored in the battery. This means: the higher the number, the longer a mobile device can be used under the same activity level. For example, if an MP3 player with a 1,000 mAh battery can play music for 100 minutes, upgrading to a 1,200 mAh battery (20% more capacity) would allow for 20% more playback time, or a total of 120 minutes.
What Does This Mean for Charging My Smartphone with a Power Charger?
Now we know that a power charger with 3,000 mAh can deliver approximately that amount of charge to a smartphone. By dividing the powerbank’s capacity (mAh) by the smartphone’s battery capacity (mAh), you get the approximate number of full charges possible. For example, if a powerbank has a capacity of 3,000 mAh and the smartphone battery holds 1,500 mAh, the phone can be fully charged about twice. Conversely, if the powerbank has 1,500 mAh and the smartphone has 3,000 mAh, it would only provide about a half charge.
Understanding Input and Output
The input and output specifications give us additional important details. The input tells us how much and how quickly energy can be stored in the powerbank. The output indicates how much and how quickly energy can be transferred from the powerbank to another device. Generally speaking, a powerbank should have 5V with 0.8A to 1A to charge a smartphone and 5V with 1.5A to 2.1A to charge a tablet.
Overview of Smartphone Battery Capacities
We have compiled a list of common smartphones and their battery capacities to provide a general reference. Looking at different models from the same manufacturer, you can also see trends in the market. For example, Apple is currently reintroducing lower-capacity smartphones to offer more affordable options.
Samsung
- Samsung Galaxy S25: 4,000 mAh
- Samsung Galaxy S24 FE: 4,700 mAh
Apple
- iPhone 16 Pro: 3,582 mAh
- iPhone 16: 3,561 mAh
Other Brands:
- Xiaomi 14T Pro: 5,000 mAh
- OnePlus 12: 2,700 mAh
- Google Pixel 9 Pro: 4,700 mAh