Fix Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) Battery Draining Problem

This article is not published to backlash Samsung or criticize the company. I am still a Samsung fanboy and not ready to port yet. That notwithstanding, over the years, there have been cases of one problem or the other with Samsung flagships (To be fair, it happens to other top manufacturers as well). Apple had her “deadgrip and bendgate” issues. Pixel has its own. There is a problematic problem being experienced by some users of galaxy s9/S0+. We call it Fix Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) battery draining problem.

First, battery drain on any smartphone can be defined as a situation whereby your battery drains faster than expected. In other words, your battery is not living up to factory specifications. Also noteworthy, many factors affect the battery endurance of any phone. In most cases, it has to do with the consumers’ usage. However, there have been reports that the s9/s9+ Exynos variant is draining the battery faster than its Snapdragon counterpart. In this post, we will provide some solution to the issue pending when Samsung roll an update to fix this. Yes, it is a software bug.

Something is wrong if your screen-on-time(screen usage) is lower than 5 hours. For emphasis, the Samsung galaxy s9 and s9 plus have two variants. The US variant is the Snapdragon model, and the global Exynos variant. There might be a fix, but unfortunately, Samsung isn’t admitting there is a problem due to PR measures. We have to find a way around this ourselves, as s9+ offers some of the best specs in the market for now.

Unfortunately, the only solution, for now, is for you to tweak the phone on another to get more battery life from it. First, I will quickly summarise factors responses for battery drain in your s9/s9+ phone.

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Fix Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) battery draining: What are the causes of battery drain on the galaxy s9 and s9+

There are many reasons why your Samsung galaxy s9 and s9 plus can be draining fast. Not every model produced has this issue, and not every user experiencing this problem is experiencing the same due to factory faults. You can experience battery-draining issues for the following reasons:

Users’ activities and usage: before you fix the Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) battery draining problem, you need to know that you may be the cause. If you rock your screen brightness up to the maximum, increase your screen timeout, or play music through your phone’s speakers at the highest volume, you will notice a rapid drop in your battery. Similarly, you may have issues if you install a suspicious app from 3rd party sources or give full permissions to resource-hungry apps like Facebook. Finally, you are in if you game aggressively or stream the highest-quality videos nonstop.
Unstable network: If your LTE or 3G network is weak or unstable, it will impact your battery. Also, your phone battery will suffer if your WifI has low reception.
Ambient temperature: If you are operating your phone in the hot sun or you live in a hot environment like most countries in Africa, you should expect a fast-draining s9/s9+
Finally, the protective case you use on your phone might be the culprit. Now let us head over to the troubleshooting.
Android system and your Display(screen) are the significant drainers of your s9/s9+ battery.

Fix Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) battery draining: definition of the problem and troubleshooting

Especially relevant: Popular Android Battery destroying Apps and how to stop them automatically

With some users of the s9 and s9+, the battery is poor both in terms of standby when idle and also in use where even basic stuff like surfing on my short commute sees it drop pretty rapidly. The issue is so frustrating that some users are considering returning the device.

If, in your case of heavy usage, the screen-on-time for you is between me is 5-6 hours, then this is normal(though you can improve it). However, when the phone is idle, it should not be draining more than expected. In addition, if you are getting below 4 hours of SOT, you should read on.

The s9/s9+ processor has exponentially higher power consumption on a single-core task that asks it to run at more than 2.3 GHz (maxes out at 2.7 GHz single-core speed). This isn’t TOO MUCH of an issue considering the new CPU is 30% faster than the S8’s, so you’ll get S8 performance plus 30% more battery efficiency at speeds below 2.3Ghz.

Troubleshooting causes of battery drain on galaxy s9 and s9+

Overheating and battery draining go hand in hand. It is, in fact, almost impossible that your s9/s9+ is overheating and not draining your battery. It would be best to prevent overheating of your s9/s9+ before successfully reducing the speed at which your battery drains. The causes above can also.

Firstly, you need to start with a clean sheet. Do a manual backup of your device and factory reset the phone. Ensure after the reset(hard reset via recovery mode preferably); you use your phone for a couple of hours before installing any application. If your phone’s battery is stable and consistent after the reset, you should know that some applications you installed are the culprit.
Now that you know that some applications you were using on the phone caused the battery drain on your phone. Make sure you install new applications one after the other and monitor your phone behavior.
Installing any of the following battery monitoring applications from the google play store: System panel(Paid), Gsam battery monitor, BetterBatteryStats(paid), or AIDA64. These apps are perfect for monitoring your battery’s health, your phone’s temperature, and, most importantly, the apps that consume more CPU than usual.

Solutions to Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) battery draining Issues

Those who complain about this issue have a temperature between 37ºC – 42ºC, which is very abnormal. Your phone is hot, which is dangerous for you and the battery. Below is what you need to do to Fix the Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) battery draining before when Samsung releases a patch for it.

The best solution RIGHT NOW is to use mid-power saving. The CPU throttle on that option limits the CPU to 70% max capacity, so it doesn’t exceed the 2.3 GHz ceiling.
Furthermore, Fix the Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) battery draining issue by disabling background activity for Android System. Click on it in the battery menu to see a toggle for “Allow background activity”. Just disable it. You can see the picture above.
Disable Facebook’s ability to run in the background, or if you’re willing to sacrifice the aesthetics, get the lite version of the app.
This is strange, but a user suggests you should uninstall Nova Launcher! I hope this is not true. It might be worth a try if everything fails.
In another scenario, to Fix the Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) battery draining problem, watch out for your battery performance when you use the Screen Mirroring (Smart View) feature to watch movies via your smart TV.
This might interest you. Get a dark theme, preferably a high-contrast theme, from the Samsung theme store. Don’t use live wallpapers until you are through with the troubleshooting.
You should approach this cautiously: turning off “Find My Mobile.” It solves some problems, especially when high GPS accuracy is turned off.
There may also be bloatware running in the background, though. Have you tried running KillApps?
Make sure you are using the most stable network in your location. If your LTE is poorer than your 3g, please stay on 3g and vice versa. Similarly, only connect your phone to the nearest WiFi network if you use WiFi.
Fix Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) battery draining by avoiding using a silicone case for your phone. Silicone cases have breathability issues. You can read my article on how to choose the best protective cases.
Turn off the “video enhancement feature” in settings. This feature can cause increased temperature and also battery loss.
Some pre-installed apps like Oculus app by Samsung, Google Maps, and even Facebook can also cause this problem on your s9/s9+.
Fix Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) battery draining by revoking location access to everything, even google maps, except Google Play services. Google Maps track your location in the background otherwise. It’ll just ask you for location access whenever you use it. Otherwise, please turn it off.
You can also do “a setting reset.” A bug with some settings may cause your problem.
There is a solution for rooted users(Please beware as you will lose your warranty, and you might even brick your phone if something goes wrong during the rooting process). A mobile geek named AnandTech has a comprehensive solution for rooted users of Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ on how to Fix Samsung galaxy s9/s9+ (Exynos) battery-draining problems.
Miscellaneous: if you want to tweak all Android phones further(including s9/s9+) please read my article here.
Finally, if everything fails and you still experience extreme battery/phone overheating on your galaxy s9/s9+, please take it back to Samsung for an immediate replacement. You must have gotten a faulty unit.