The best phones with a removable battery and alternative solutions

Back in the day, removable batteries were all the rage, no matter what device you bought. However, the modern trend towards unibody, sealed designs means you’ll struggle to find a phone with this feature today. It’s a pity, because many of us still want a removable battery. A removable design means you can easily swap out batteries — that means no time lost charging, and you can quickly ditch degraded batteries. We’ve searched high and low to bring you the best phones with removable batteries. We couldn’t find many, but there are a few good options around. Let’s take a look at them.

The best phones with a removable battery

Editor’s note: We’ll regularly update this list of the best phones with removable batteries when new devices launch.

Samsung Galaxy XCover 6 Pro

Most phones with removable batteries fall at the lower end of the specs and price spectrum, and finding good options in this category is getting harder and harder. That’s why the Samsung Galaxy XCover 6 Pro is such a pleasant surprise.

It’s no flagship by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s pretty capable. It has a Full HD display, a mid-range Snapdragon 778G processor, decent cameras, and a large removable 4,050mAh battery, making it a very compelling phone.

The rugged XCover 6 Pro is also built to survive the elements. It has an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance and a MIL-STD 810H certification for impact resistance.

The Samsung Galaxy XCover 6 Pro is more expensive than other similarly-built mid-rangers. This phone targets a particular segment of the market. So anyone lamenting that there aren’t many decent phones with removable batteries out there has something to look forward to with this rugged option.

Galaxy XCover 6 Pro specs:

Kyocera Duraforce Pro 3

This is definitely one of the best phones with a removable battery, released right in the middle of 2023. It is also pretty expensive at $899.99 MSRP, but it could be the very best option if you want to be able to hot-swap the battery.

For starters, the Kyocera Duraforce Pro 3 is rugged, featuring an IP68 rating, as well as MIL-STD-810H certification. And the specs are pretty good, too. The phone comes with a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage.

The screen isn’t huge at 5.38 inches, but you get a Full HD resolution. The battery is nicely sized at 4,270 mAh. You get a triple-camera system, as well as an 8MP selfie shooter. The only main downside is that it is only available on Verizon.

Fairphone 4

While it’s getting older now, the Fairphone 4 is still among the best options if you want a good phone with a removable battery. It was launched in September 2021. The specs aren’t lacking too much, which is a breath of fresh air in the world of removable battery smartphones.

The device comes with Android 11 out of the box, and specs include a Snapdragon 750G with up to 8GB of RAM. The 6.3-inch display offers a 1080p resolution, and the battery is relatively hefty at 3,905mAh. You’ll also enjoy modern features like a fingerprint reader, a dual-camera setup, IP54 certification, and even MIL-STD-810G compliance.

It’s an expensive phone for what you get, but we’re sure you won’t mind paying the premium if you want the most modern specs and features on a phone with a removable battery. It’s also starting to become pretty hard to find.

Fairphone 4 specs:

Nokia C21

The Nokia C21 is far from the most powerful phone with a removable battery, but it’s a reasonably new budget alternative. It comes with Android 11 (Go Edition), which means it also comes with a near-stock Android experience.

HMD’s phone packs a Unisoc SC9863A chipset, which should handle messaging, browsing, and other lightweight tasks just fine. Don’t hold your breath for anything spectacular when looking at the rest of the spec sheet, either. There’s 2-4GB of RAM, 32-64GB of storage, and a 3,000mAh battery. And yes, the removable nature of the latter means you can swap batteries when your phone is low on juice.

Nokia C21 specs:

Nokia C12 series

If you’re looking for an ultra-budget device, you will want to look into the Nokia C12 series. These are super affordable and have removable batteries. The series is comprised of the Nokia C12 and Nokia C12 Pro.

Both phones come with 6.3-inch 720p screens, a Unisoc SC9863A1 processor, 2-3GB of RAM, an 8MP primary camera, a 5MP selfie camera, and an identical design. The Nokia C12 has the smallest battery at 3,000mAh, but you can upgrade to 4,000mAh if you opt for the Pro iteration.

The pricing sits comfortably low for all three, but they are a bit hard to find outside of India. You can find them in some parts of Europe and the UK, too.

C12 specs:

C12 Pro specs:

TCL Ion X

Those looking for an ultra-affordable handset with a removable battery can consider getting a TCL Ion X. You may not have heard of it, but it costs just $119.99 and is available from Metro by T-Mobile. As if that wasn’t cheap enough, the carrier will often offer discounts, and you can usually get it for free if you sign up for a new line!

The 3,000mAh battery can be removed, of course. Other specs include a MediaTek Helio G25 processor, 3GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. The screen measures six inches, which is a good size, but it only has a 720p resolution.

Ion X specs:

It’s time to move on from removable batteries

As the list above clarifies, you will have difficulty finding a worthy modern phone if a removable battery is a priority. The easiest thing to do is accept the fact that your best bet is to find a good handset with a non-removable battery. You can look for other ways to keep your phone from running out of juice.

For starters, some phones have stunning battery life out of the box, so you might want to consider one of those before finding any other solutions. Here’s a list of our favorite phones with the best battery life.

Luckily, there are plenty of options to consider. The most obvious solution is to buy a portable battery pack to top off your phone’s battery. We have a whole list of terrific battery pack options here. Waiting for your device to charge won’t be as fast as swapping out the battery. However, many phones have fast-charging capabilities, so charging times aren’t nearly as bad as they used to be.

Similarly, you could also get a phone with wireless charging. You can dock the phone or lay it on a mat while at your desk, and it will charge as if it were plugged in. This will give your phone little bursts of juice throughout the day and hopefully prevent you from running dry.

Finally, many manufacturers include battery optimization features within their version of Android. For example, OnePlus and Samsung have very flexible battery optimization settings in OxygenOS and One UI, respectively, that could help you prolong your battery life. But, of course, you’d need to sacrifice some features for this to work.

Unfortunately, these are the things you’ll have to do going forward as removable batteries fade into the rear view of phone history.

FAQs

Do you need more help with your battery issues? You might first want to find out what’s happening with your phone if your battery is dying too soon. We also have a guide for extending your battery life.