Cutoff voltage

Some electronic devices, such as cell phones, will automatically shut down when the cut-off voltage has been reached.

Devices that have too high cut-off voltages may stop operating while the battery still has significant capacity remaining.

[1] Some portable equipment does not fully utilise the low-end voltage spectrum of a battery.

[2] Importantly, particularly in the case of lithium-ion batteries, which are used in the vast majority of portable electronics today, a voltage cut-off below 3.2 V can lead to chemical instability [citation needed] in the cell, with the result being a reduced battery lifetime.

For this reason, electronics manufacturers tend to use higher cut-off voltages, removing the need for consumers to buy battery replacements before other failure mechanisms in a device take effect [citation needed].

Discharge curve of an AA alkaline battery showing the amount of energy available when using different possible cutoff voltages. Under a constant-current discharge at 100mA, energy extracted from the battery is proportional to the area under the graph:
energy extracted before reaching a 1.3V cutoff
additional energy extracted before reaching a 1.1V cutoff
additional energy extracted when fully draining to 0V