Anyone who deals with smartphones – or of course with other technical devices – will sooner or later come across the abbreviation mAh. This stands for milliampere hours. TECHBOOK explains why this unit is so important.
The abbreviation mAh stands for the physical unit milliampere hours. It is primarily used for batteries in mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, but also, for example, for batteries for digital cameras or rechargeable batteries. For power banks, the mAh indication shows the capacity of the energy bar.
Information about the energy supply
The abbreviation mAh indicates how much current (milliamperes, mA) a battery has or how long it can supply a device with energy. For example: given 1000 mAh, a battery can supply a device with 1000 mA for one hour. The formula is current times hours. Or to put it another way: If the device constantly consumed 100 mA, the battery would run for ten hours. If the device needs more, the battery life will be reduced accordingly.
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That’s the theory, because the battery life depends on a few factors. For example, the cold reduces the running time – an experience that every winter vacationer has had when their smartphone is in an outside pocket of their jacket.
As the battery gets older, it also loses its performance because it no longer charges fully. Ultimately, it is the equipment of the device that determines how long a battery charge lasts. For example, an LC display consumes more energy than an OLED or AMOLED screen.
More mAh does not mean longer runtime
With a smartphone, it is also important how much energy, for example, the processor or the activated apps require from the battery. Therefore, one cannot generally say that a high mAh value indicates a long battery life. Because if the smartphone “sucks up” the battery capacity quickly, the next charging process is not far away. On the other hand, with an energy-saving cell phone, the same battery runs longer.
That’s why you can’t compare the mAh figures for the iPhone with those of an Android smartphone, because the iPhone processors usually work more economically than the chips built into Android cell phones.