Consumer Reports ranks iPhone X behind Galaxy S8 and iPhone 8 series in testing

Consumer Reports published an evaluation of the best smartphones on Tuesday. Among other determinations, the iPhone X was found to have a 19.5-hour life, beating out the iPhone 8, but falling short of the 26 hour life of the Samsung Galaxy S8, and the 21 hours of the Galaxy S8 Plus.

The iPhone X has a 2716 mAh battery. The Galaxy S8 has a 3000 mAh battery, with the Galaxy S8 Plus having a 3500 mAh unit.

The Galaxy S8 series came in first out of 10 phones on the Consumer Reports list, with the S8 Plus coming in second. Apple's iPhone 8 Plus held the third spot, with the iPhone 8 holding fourth.

The iPhone X came in ninth — with only the damage from a prolonged tumble test pushing it down below the iPhone 8 series. One out of three of the iPhone X that the group had on staff had major back-glass damage after 100 unprotected tumbles in its testing apparatus, with the other two having screen damage after 50.

Consumer Reports "highly recommends" a protective case for the iPhone X to consumers to protect from the damage that a drop can induce.

The iPhone X has the best camera of the phones it tested. The iPhone 8 — not the iPhone 8 Plus — had the second-best camera.

Notably, Consumer Reports botched the battery testing on the then-new 2016 MacBook Pro, fiddling with developer settings in Safari. After Apple publicly disclosed the publication's settings issue, the re-test showed a much longer battery life more in line with Apple's claims.