Sounds like the year for mid-range Android smartphones with massive batteries — we’ve already seen plenty of them so far in 2025 — but the OnePlus Nord CE5 has come up short in a new 7000mAh battery drain test. An intense battle to the death was fought between six of the newest, largest-battery devices recently when also joined by the OnePlus Nord CE5, and, by this crafted measure, it came midway down the pack in a TechBar video comparison.
The OnePlus Nord CE5 comes with a 7,100mAh battery, and takes on devices such as the iQoo Z10 with 7,300mAh, the Poco F7, iQoo Neo10, Oppo K13, and Realme GT 7. All devices were tested under identical conditions, with a 100% charge, connected to the same Wi-Fi, with the same apps running and same brightness levels. The OnePlus Nord CE5 was a struggling competitor here despite the level playfield.
At the very least, 2025 ushered in the age of “battery monster” smartphones — or at least in the mid-range segment — but this test showed license plate size doesn’t correlate to real-life endurance.
First to give up was the Realme GT 7, which has the smallest of the batteries at 7,000mAh — it held on for just 9h 4min.+ We gave it a pass for the lower longevity due to the performance-oriented MediaTek Dimensity 9400e that powers the device.
However, an AnTuTu stress test showing the OnePlus Nord CE5 scored just 9 hours and 31 minutes added to the MediaTek Dimensity 8350, and it even couldn’t complete the test, landing in 5th place out of 6.
Interestingly, the iQoo Z10 with a Snapdragon 7s Gen 3 chip managed to surprise everyone by coming in 2nd with more than 12 hours of screen-on time. However, the surprise was at the caliber of Qualcomm Snapdragon 6 Gen 4 SoC that was powering the Oppo K13, that still finished with stunning 12h 44m result and won the whole test.
The Chinese version with the biggest battery (7,550mAh), Poco F7, did even better than the Nord CE5 but still overheated on the 3DMark benchmark. The time was one minute ahead of the iQoo Neo10 which lasted 11 hours and 40 minutes.
Despite the OnePlus Nord CE5 offering a colossal 7,100mAh battery on paper, the findings show battery optimization and thermal performance matter far more than raw capacity. The number will indicate how the OnePlus Nord CE5 users might miss out on expected longevity — a complaint that will amplify under heavy usage.
Interestingly the top performer in the test – and therefore the one to beat – is also the cheapest on the list, the Oppo K13, which is worth watching out for if you’re in India. On Amazon, it begins at INR 17,854. 3349 comes in the 8GB+128GB version in the beautiful Icy Purple color.
By contrast, OnePlus Nord CE5 might be requiring a little more software-level polishing to earn that battery size on-paper, since battery life is becoming a big deal on mid-range markets.
FAQ
Above all, the OnePlus Nord CE5 has a 7,100mAh battery.
Enabling the display stayed to fifth place out of 6, going for just 9 hours and 31 minutes of on-screen time.
The Oppo K13 was the endurance champ with a screen-on time of 12h 44m.
The MediaTek Dimensity 8350 chipset will power it.
The thermal throttle and low endurance suggest this might not be to the ideal for heavier workloads.
