Rapidly deteriorating battery life has long been tolerated by smartphone owners, mainly because they have no choice. Phones usually meet the holy grail of battery life, the ability to last all day, at first. Then it starts getting worse quickly, until many phone owners end up plugging in during the day. It seems it's always been this way, and there's no incentive to the smartphone makers to make this better.
Battery has long been the focus of the mobile segment. In the early days of mobile the possible time away from a power outlet was not very long. This prompted OEMs to do what they could to make batteries in mobile devices last longer.
