Journalists follow the presentation of Huawei's smartphone, the Mate S, ahead of the IFA Electronics show in Berlin, Germany, in this file picture taken September 2, 2015.

Journalists follow the presentation of Huawei's smartphone, the Mate S, ahead of the IFA Electronics show in Berlin, Germany, in this file picture taken September 2, 2015. Reuters/Hannibal Hanschke

The new Huawei P10 picks up where its predecessor left off the year before. It’s an improvement over the Huawei P9 in nearly every facet, including camera, design and display protection. But when it comes to battery performance, how far off are the two P series siblings?

Huawei P9 - Battery specs and features

The Huawei P9 is powered by a robust and non-removable 3,000 mAh battery. The P9 has rapid charging support and is able to provide about 40 percent of power in just 30 minutes of plug time using 9V/2A charger. Unfortunately, the handset comes with a regular 5V/2A charging unit, so those who want fast charging will have to purchase the 9V charger separately.

During GSMArena’s battery test, the Huawei P9 scored a pretty good rating. The phone battery can endure a few hours north of three days if the user does an hour each of phone calls, web browsing and video playback per day. The P9 has three power modes: Performance, Standard and Ultra Power Saving.

The Performance mode goes all out and does not enforce any kind of limit whatsoever on the hardware while the Standard mode supplements an additional couple of hours of use. The Ultra Power Saving keeps the handset going for a significant amount of time. There’s also the ROG power saving option that takes down the native screen resolution to 720p to provide more battery life and extend playing time.

Huawei P10 - Battery specs and features

Meanwhile, the Huawei P10 houses a 3,200 mAh battery, sealed just like its predecessor. The bundled charger is strapping, tough enough to churn out 5V/4.5A, 4.5V/5A and 5V/2A. P10 owners have to use the handset’s charger and USB cable together in order to fully take advantage of the numbers, though, as the charging speeds considerably drop off when another cable is used.

The P10 is able to provide about 55 percent of battery life in just 30 minutes of plug time using the bundled charging accessories. Although the new P series smartphone has a slightly more powerful cell than its older brother, it provides roughly the same performance as the P9.

Huawei P9 vs Huawei P10 – Battery performance test

When TechRadar pitted the P9 and the P10 against each other in a series of rigorous battery performance tests that involved an hour and a half each of web browsing, gaming, YouTube playback and native video playback, the P10 came out on top. After 90 minutes of web browsing, the P9 had 57 percent remaining battery life while the P10 had 67 percent. Following the YouTube playback test, the older handset’s battery level further stumbled to only 17 percent while the new phone hung on with 38 percent.

Both handsets didn’t even get to complete the gaming portion. The Huawei P9 finished with a total performance time of three hours and 20 minutes while the Huawei P10 lasted four hours and 10 minutes.

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