How long your mobile will last?

When we talk about the mobile expiration date, we are not referring to changing the device because the screen, the charging port or other characteristics that should be typical of use have been broken. A small RAM memory, taking up a lot of space with photos or updates, can also impact the speed of the mobile. But the key ingredient in this equation is the battery. Before we could replace it, but now, since it is soldered in most cases, this is not possible and largely determines how long our smartphone will last in full use of its faculties. How to know this? We go by steps.

Mobile device batteries have a limited number of charges after which they will no longer charge 100%: its capacity will be reduced to 80%, then to 60% and from that moment many people will decide that their mobile is “slow” or “not charging” and will change it. It is important to know that a recharge cycle is how many times a battery has been discharged, not how many times it has gone from 100% to zero. If we go from 30% to 0 and charge it, it is also a charge cycle. The good thing is that charging it when it is at 50% instead of waiting longer, does not constitute a charge cycle. The key is that it does not become empty.

According to a scientific study that analyzed more than 13,000 mobile phones, the standard charge cycles in the mobile industry are between 800 and 1,000. That is, we can complete these cycles up to a thousand times before it drops to 80%. if we load it once a day, the approximate result is that our mobile will last 2 and a half years “in full faculties”. And now comes the key part: how to know how many times we have charged our mobile? Most manufacturers do not put this information in the Settings of our phones. There are applications, such as Charge Cycle Counter or CoconutBattery (available for Android and iOS) that allow you to know the charge cycles, but only from the moment they are installed.

Xiaomi has a “secret” code that often works: You have to open the call keypad, press *#*#6485#*#*, and it takes us to a tab where you can see the load cycles that are represented by the code “MF_02″. For Samsung mobiles it is possible to download the Phone INFO Samsung app, available in the Play Store.

For your part Apple also has a system, albeit somewhat complex. On the iCloud Shortcuts page, you have to download an app on your mobile. Then open Settings go to Privacy, select Analytics and improvements, then Analytics. There will be a series of data. We select the last of these (the most recent) and click on Share. Only then can we open the file and see the load cycle.

The other way is more… homemade so to speak: calculate the date of purchase of the mobile, days and that will be the approximate number of loads.