Let’s just say it: this wasn’t supposed to happen. Samsung’s One UI 7 update rolled out with a lot of promise — new features, refreshed design, AI enhancements, smarter quick settings — the kind of polish you expect from a flagship brand. And for the most part, the update delivered. But not on battery life.
Not even close.
One UI 7: The Update That Came With a Hidden Cost – battery drain
It’s been a few weeks now, and Galaxy users are still reporting frustrating battery drain. Not the usual post-update adjustment. This is deeper. Persistent. And mostly affecting high-end models — think Galaxy S24, S24+, and the latest foldables.
Take the S24+ for example. Before One UI 7, some users reported 6–7 hours of screen-on time. Now? They’re charging by mid-afternoon. One Fold user said their phone used to last a full day with ease. Now it’s gasping for power after just five hours. And it’s not isolated. Social forums are full of similar complaints.
You’d expect a bit of post-update recalibration. That’s common — background processes settle, indexing wraps up, and battery performance typically levels out within a few days. Maybe a week, tops. But we’re well past that window now.
Workarounds That Miss the Point
To make matters worse, many of the “fixes” floating around feel like half-measures. Sure, you can turn off background activity, ditch location services, reduce refresh rates, disable some of the new AI features… but isn’t that kind of defeating the purpose?nbsp;These phones cost upwards of $1,000. You shouldn’t have to gut your experience just to make it through the day.
Then there’s the nuclear options: clearing the system cache or doing a full factory reset. Not exactly user-friendly. And even then, the results seem inconsistent at best. Temporary at worst. So where does that leave users?
A Bittersweet Update
It’s frustrating this battery drain issue, because One UI 7 does improve a lot of things. Animations are smoother. The layout feels more intuitive. And the new AI features are genuinely useful in some cases. But when battery life takes a hit — a visible, daily one — it’s hard not to feel let down.
Samsung hasn’t officially acknowledged the battery drain issue as widespread, at least not yet. That could change. Maybe a patch is already in the works. But right now, people are stuck either limping through the day with a charger nearby or rolling back features they paid for.
And really — that shouldn’t be the tradeoff.