The rapid growth of Internet of Things (IoT) deployments, mission-critical sensing, and unmanned systems requires wireless solutions with reduced complexity, improved energy efficiency, and reliable connectivity. While Fifth Generation Mobile Communication System (5G) Full-Capability (FullCap) User Equipment (UE) provides high performance, it often exceeds the power and cost constraints of large-scale sensor networks. 5G Reduced Capability (RedCap) devices offer a practical compromise with essential 5G functionalities and lower energy consumption. This paper presents a comparative study of the energy consumption of RedCap versus FullCap 5G devices. Measurement campaigns using smart plugs collected real-time power data under different configurations and were processed through an automated pipeline. Results show that RedCap devices significantly reduce energy consumption while maintaining reliable connectivity for largescale IoT deployments.
