The Always On Display (AOD) feature is available on several Samsung phones, from the flagship Galaxy S26 to the cheaper Galaxy A37 and Galaxy A57, and can be a handy tool to have on hand. AOD allows users to glance at the screen for quick information, including the time, notifications, widget contents, and Now bar updates (if applicable). Although the Always On Display feature doesn’t illuminate the entire screen, it still consumes power rather than leaving the screen completely off when the phone is idle. Power consumption may vary depending on the type of screen used in a particular Galaxy phone, but it can be notable, reaching up to 1% of your battery charge per hour.
The newest flagship phones feature LTPO (low temperature polycrystalline oxide) OLED panels that allow Samsung to offer dynamic refresh rates, ranging from 1Hz to 120Hz. The lower the refresh rate, the less power the screen consumes, including when displaying only static content with AOD enabled. Mid-range and entry-level devices may not feature the same type of OLED panels. The refresh rate can only go up to 90Hz on some of them, without supporting dynamic refresh. Additionally, the more content (like widgets and richer wallpaper) that is displayed when the screen is not in use, the more power the AOD will consume.
Even Samsung considers AOD a power vampire, and its support documentation states that it’s one of the features that power saving mode turns off in an attempt to extend the life of your charge. Samsung doesn’t provide specific battery consumption figures, but third-party testing has shown that AOD is responsible for faster battery drain.
Using AOD Battery Life on Galaxy S Flagships
Samsung introduced AOD functionality in 2016 with the Galaxy S7 series. The company said the feature uses less than 1% per hour of battery power, indicating that AOD would be disabled when battery life drops to 5%. Techspot tests at the time showed that the AOD feature used between 0.59% and 0.65% battery per hour. This translates to nine percent battery usage over a 14-hour period. A Chekyang battery test for the Galaxy S8 Plus in 2017 showed that the battery lost 4-6% of its charge overnight when AOD was on, compared to just 2-3% when the feature was off.
In 2022, DXOMark tested battery consumption for Always On Display for four handsets, including the iPhone 14 Pro Max, Pixel 7 Pro, Galaxy S22 Ultra, and Xiaomi 12S Ultra, at a time when Apple had just introduced AOD support. Testing found that a phone battery would drain approximately 3-4 times faster with AOD enabled. The Galaxy S22 Ultra lasted 136 hours with AOD and 417 hours without AOD. All phones were placed in a Faraday cage for testing, with controlled parameters including temperature and ambient light. The battery was set between 20% and 80% and the phones were put in airplane mode.
The Galaxy S22 Ultra was Samsung’s first flagship to support an adaptive refresh rate of 1-120Hz, with previous models having a static refresh rate or a high lower threshold. Non-Ultra models supported refresh rates of 48-120Hz. The Galaxy S24 series was the first to offer users refresh rates of 1-120Hz across the board. AOD battery consumption remained below 1% per hour for Galaxy S24 phones, with a Reddit test showing 5-7% battery drain over a 10-hour period.
What about cheaper Samsung phones?
Samsung introduced AOD to cheaper Galaxy A phones in 2017, starting with the Galaxy A3, A5, and A7 models. The feature later expanded to the Galaxy J and Galaxy M lines in subsequent years. Since 2023, the Galaxy A34 to A37 and the Galaxy A54 to A57 offer AOD functionality. The entry-level Galaxy A24 and Galaxy A25 also support Always On Display. The Galaxy A32 2021 comes with a 90Hz display, while the Galaxy A52 5G model came with a 120Hz display. The Galaxy A13 5G (2021) came with a 90Hz panel, while the Galaxy A25, introduced in late 2023, came with a 120Hz panel. It is important to note that mid-range and entry-level phones from range with high refresh rate panels generally did not support adaptive refresh rates like the Galaxy S models do. This means that the AOD functionality will not be as effective on these devices.
AOD battery consumption has remained at around 1% per hour for cheaper phones. A 2017 PhoneArena test showed that the Galaxy A5 would consume around 20% over 24 hours for AOD functionality. Anecdotal user reports estimate battery usage at 1-3% per hour for a Galaxy A52 with a 90Hz display and less than 0.5% per hour for a Galaxy A55 at 120Hz.
Overall, your mileage may vary depending on the type of Galaxy phone you have. Flagships feature more efficient displays, but they can show more advanced features in AOD. Additionally, the newer the handset, the better the hardware, including the OLED panel. To improve battery life, users can enable a Tap to Show feature that will reduce the amount of time the screen stays on for quick status checks.