The Dualsense Edge Has a Smaller Battery Than the Base Dualsense

The $200 PlayStation 5 Dualsense Edge controller Sony announced last year is meant to provide ultimate try-hard gamers with new options to stomp their opponents. However paying the extra $130 over than the original DualSense’s $70 to access those extra bells and whistles also means cutting a marathon gaming session short.

The company itself noted even prior to release that the Edge has a battery life of 5 to 10 hours, depending on how hard you go with it. The original DualSense has a stated operating time of 12 to 15 hours, though in my own personal experience, it takes much less time to go from a full charge to zero.

But now that people have the new controller in-hand, folks with both a screwdriver and some know-how have uncovered why the Edge has a shorter lifespan. The Edge’s battery is running over 500 milliamp hours behind the original controller.

Though the Edge controller was officially released globally on Thursday, Budds Controllers, an aftermarket controller parts shop based in Australia, livestreamed a teardown of the DualSense Edge on Wednesday. Inside, the controller experts found the Edge has a shrunken battery compared to its cheaper, default counterpart. VGC was the first to note the more expensive controller contains a 1050 mAh battery compared to the regular DualSense’s 1,560 mAh, based on pictures shared by Budds Controller’s Twitter page and the shop’s livestream.

When Sony told The Verge back in December that the Edge would have a “moderately shorter” battery life than the original controller, the company blamed that on the “many more features” included in the new design. The new controller certainly has several more features, like its back buttons, adjustable triggers, swappable analog stick modules, and switches for different control profiles. Apparently, getting that all to fit has also meant a shrunken battery.

Gizmodo reached out to Sony for comment but we did not immediately hear back.

“We wanted to strike a good balance between wireless operating time and delivering robust, high-performance features,” the company said in its original statement. Of course, the Edge does come with a 2.8 meter braided USB-C cable, so charging shouldn’t prove too big a hassle, unless you like to play with the controller hidden under the blankets.

Still, it’s very unfortunate to spend $130 extra on a premium controller only to need to charge the thing more often. The DualSense is a very good controller even without the extra bits and bobs, so for your average gamer, the swappable thumbsticks and back buttons might not outweigh the costs. I’m much more interested in Sony’s move toward accessibility with its Project Leonardo swappable controller layout, but we still don’t have a release date there.

The $200 PlayStation 5 Dualsense Edge controller Sony announced last year is meant to provide ultimate try-hard gamers with new options to stomp their opponents. However paying the extra $130 over than the original DualSense’s $70 to access those extra bells and whistles also means cutting a marathon gaming session short.

The company itself noted even prior to release that the Edge has a battery life of 5 to 10 hours, depending on how hard you go with it. The original DualSense has a stated operating time of 12 to 15 hours, though in my own personal experience, it takes much less time to go from a full charge to zero.

But now that people have the new controller in-hand, folks with both a screwdriver and some know-how have uncovered why the Edge has a shorter lifespan. The Edge’s battery is running over 500 milliamp hours behind the original controller.

Though the Edge controller was officially released globally on Thursday, Budds Controllers, an aftermarket controller parts shop based in Australia, livestreamed a teardown of the DualSense Edge on Wednesday. Inside, the controller experts found the Edge has a shrunken battery compared to its cheaper, default counterpart. VGC was the first to note the more expensive controller contains a 1050 mAh battery compared to the regular DualSense’s 1,560 mAh, based on pictures shared by Budds Controller’s Twitter page and the shop’s livestream.

When Sony told The Verge back in December that the Edge would have a “moderately shorter” battery life than the original controller, the company blamed that on the “many more features” included in the new design. The new controller certainly has several more features, like its back buttons, adjustable triggers, swappable analog stick modules, and switches for different control profiles. Apparently, getting that all to fit has also meant a shrunken battery.

Gizmodo reached out to Sony for comment but we did not immediately hear back.

“We wanted to strike a good balance between wireless operating time and delivering robust, high-performance features,” the company said in its original statement. Of course, the Edge does come with a 2.8 meter braided USB-C cable, so charging shouldn’t prove too big a hassle, unless you like to play with the controller hidden under the blankets.

Still, it’s very unfortunate to spend $130 extra on a premium controller only to need to charge the thing more often. The DualSense is a very good controller even without the extra bits and bobs, so for your average gamer, the swappable thumbsticks and back buttons might not outweigh the costs. I’m much more interested in Sony’s move toward accessibility with its Project Leonardo swappable controller layout, but we still don’t have a release date there.