Does your phone’s battery run out too quickly?

It is a scene we all know: by mid-afternoon, the battery percentage has already dropped below 30%. Our first reaction is to lower the display brightness, close recent apps and resign ourselves to the idea that the phone’s battery is “dying”.

Yet on modern phones, the screen is almost never the only cause of abnormal battery drain. If the charge drops quickly without intensive use, the real culprit is something else: Cellular Standby (or Mobile network standby) combined with aggressive switching between 5G networks.

 

The constant search for a signal

To understand why the mobile network consumes so much power, we need to analyse how the device’s modem works. When we move around or are inside a building with thick walls, the mobile signal tends to fluctuate.

The smartphone is programmed to provide the best possible connection speed at all times. Consequently, if it detects even a very weak trace of a 5G network, it will do everything it can to connect to that cell.

To do so, the modem chip increases the power sent to the internal antennas to the maximum permitted level. The result? The phone starts to heat up at the back for no apparent reason. The radio component’s energy consumption far exceeds that of the OLED display, and the battery drops even when the device is not in use.

 

The “silent” micro-processes in the background

Complicating matters is synchronisation management. Many applications do not wait for a Wi-Fi connection to exchange data.

Whenever the mobile antenna has to wake from its resting state to send or receive small packets of data (notifications, weather location updates, email synchronisation…), a phenomenon occurs called Tail Time.

The antenna switches to its maximum-power state, sends the data and stays “awake” for several seconds before returning to standby. If hundreds of apps do this at staggered intervals, the modem stays constantly at full capacity.

 

Improve your phone’s battery life in 3 steps

If you suspect your battery is suffering because of the mobile network, there is no need to rush to a repair centre to replace it. A targeted check of the settings is enough on iOS or Android.

 

Step 1: Check the battery statistics

Go to Settings > Battery > Battery usage. Look for entries such as Cellular network, Network standby or Searching for signal. If this percentage exceeds the screen’s share (for example, if the mobile network accounts for 35% compared with the screen’s 25%), you have found the culprit.

 

Step 2: Temporarily force a switch to 4G / LTE

In areas where 5G coverage is not yet perfect, forcing the phone to use 4G works wonders.

• On Android: Settings > Network & Internet > SIM > Preferred network type ➔ Select 4G/3G.
• On iOS: Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Voice & Data ➔ Select 5G Auto or 4G.

Step 3: Limit background refresh

Disable permission to refresh data over the mobile network for games or shopping apps that send promotional notifications. On iPhone, simply disable Background App Refresh, while on Android it is recommended to restrict Background data in each application’s settings.

 

Adjusting the modem and the quality of its network connection is the single action that can give your smartphone up to 30% more daily battery life.