Do I really need a handheld GPS if I have a phone?

For day hikes near civilization, probably not. But across the reviewers we read, the consensus is that dedicated handhelds outperform phones on battery life (often 100+ hours vs. a single day), GNSS chip quality, and ruggedness. Backpacking and r/Ultralight commenters specifically call out that phone GNSS chips are tuned for power efficiency at the cost of accuracy, while handhelds prioritize signal lock.