If you’re wondering why your DualSense Edge’s battery isn’t going as long as you’d like it to, it turns out there’s a very straightforward reason for it.
A breakdown of the DualSense Edge controller, which was done by Twitter user Budd’s Controllers, shows that the battery in Sony’s premium pad is much smaller than that of a standard DualSense.
But it’s not just the size that’s smaller here, as the battery capacity of the premium PS5 controller is much less than that of the regular DualSense. The Edge’s battery capacity is only 1050mAh. This is a significant downgrade compared to the 2020 DualSense’s 1560mAh, Dexerto (Opens in a new tab) reports).
Check out the difference in battery size / pic.twitter.com/oAOS7yWbiMJanuary 26, 2023
This guide aligns with the official wording from Sony, which says the DualSense Edge’s battery life was “comparatively shorter” than that of its base model. Furthermore, in my testing of the DualSense Edge for our review, I found the controller’s battery life to run out of steam after nearly seven hours of gameplay.
Depending on what you’re playing and how heavily your games use DualSense features, like adaptive triggers and haptic feedback, battery life will vary. Though, it looks like you won’t get more than six to seven hours out of the Edge before you need to charge it again. The included DualSense package certainly does the best, running an average of eight to ten hours before running out of juice.
Why is the DualSense Edge’s battery so weak?
The DualSense Edge is a slight improvement over the base panel in all but one area: battery life. We now know why. But why would Sony consciously reduce battery life, when you think they’d want the Edge to be firing on all cylinders, given its outrageous price tag?
My immediate guesses are the space and cost savings. You can see from the image above how cramped the internals of the DualSense Edge had to be to hold all of the original DualSense components, adding two function buttons, trigger locks, and four ports for the rear scoops. Sony engineers may have decided the extra functionality was worth the loss in battery life.
On the cost-saving front, the DualSense Edge packs an excellent price tag, $199.99 / £209.99 / AU$339.95 to be exact. With the smaller battery. A DualSense or larger battery pack may command a higher price tag, making them less palatable. Especially when compared to the standard DualSense.
Making a smaller and cheaper battery is certainly a way to lower development costs. But whatever the reason, the Edge’s poor battery life doesn’t quite match its console’s “Pro” status. Especially when competing pads like the Xbox Elite Controller Series 2 and Nintendo Switch Pro Controller easily score dozens of hours of battery life by comparison.