87 % design capacity at 106 cycles, normal ?

[Christian hiti]

I juste noticed in coconut battery that my battery is currently at 87% capacity on a laptop that has 106 cycles and was bought in January 2020, is this a normal degradation ? If this continues on a linear path, I am looking at lower than 80 % design capacity at the one year mark. I brought the device to get Applecare+ on the pilot program and while running the diagnostic the tech said everything is alright. He commented that the battery seem to still be good, being at a higher than 80 % capacity.
This is a 8 months old device, last month the computer showed 91 % capacity and even then, I think after not even a year of usage that seems like a pretty quick degradation.

Is this the norm ? Its on a 2019 2 TB i5 MacBook Pro.

 

[ISKOTB]

I guess it is normal because I have my laptop for about 15 months and I got 22 cycles/92% capacity

 

[Christian hiti]

Yikes, 22 cycles and 92 % ? that seems low. If I compare my Iphone I was at 100% for about 3 month, 1 charge a day

 

[ISKOTB]

iPhone 11 since Nov and it is 100% still, AW4 going on 1.5 years now and it is 100% as well

 

[Furfural]

90% at 125 cycles and ~400 days battery age. 2019 15 inch

 

[velocityg4]

That seems pretty bad for the number of cycles. I'm at 74.4% on my 2015 with 1,041 cycles.
- Are you fully discharging everytime? Even dropping below 20% is bad for longevity.
- Are you charging immediately after discharging? The extra heat can reduce capacity. Let it cool down before charging.
- Are you leaving the laptop in hot places? Sitting around in places like your trunk hurts capacity.

 

[ISKOTB]

Just have Apple check your laptop/battery

Battery Lifespan
This is something that takes people by surprise: All batteries will stop working. No ifs and buts or candy and nuts. Unlike your Mac, which will have an indeterminate lifespan, a battery has a ticking clock. After enough time and use it will need to be replaced. They’re like tires on a car - eventually, they just wear out.

 

[Crash0veride]

Mines at 89% at 49 cycles since last November, so you're doing substantially better than me (cycle wise, not percent over time I guess). I'm usually docked though. I'm guessing I'll be below the 80% marker before my AppleCare is up at this rate, so not incredibly worried.

Curious to see how much the "Battery health management" feature changes things in the coming months. Also wondering if maybe it already has. Mine has dropped 7% in two months based on my history. So maybe coconutbattery's reading intentionally reduced capacity from battery health management? "Based on the measurements that it collects, battery health management may reduce your battery's maximum charge when in this mode."

 

[Christian hiti]

That seems pretty bad for the number of cycles. I'm at 74.4% on my 2015 with 1,041 cycles.
- Are you fully discharging everytime? Even dropping below 20% is bad for longevity.
- Are you charging immediately after discharging? The extra heat can reduce capacity. Let it cool down before charging.
- Are you leaving the laptop in hot places? Sitting around in places like your trunk hurts capacity.

The computer is often plugged in dock mode, but I do unplug and use it as a laptop from time to time. It's in use everyday since lockdown. It might be coconut battery but the genius did see the battery being at around 90 %. My 2014 model was at 89 % after 400 cycles. It seems the new MacBook Pro batteries aren't as long lasting as the old models.

 

[dirtybluejeans]

I've got a MBP 16 Retina with touchbar, bought this September (two months ago), battery cycles are 26 and coconut shows battery capacity already at 88% of design. This thing cost me $3000 in India, and it's the base model, so not only does it not have high specs, the battery runs for about 3.5-4 hours even when I've disabled GPU in chrome etc. Sigh!

 

[laz232]

I juste noticed in coconut battery that my battery is currently at 87% capacity on a laptop that has 106 cycles and was bought in January 2020, is this a normal degradation ? If this continues on a linear path, I am looking at lower than 80 % design capacity at the one year mark. I brought the device to get Applecare+ on the pilot program and while running the diagnostic the tech said everything is alright. He commented that the battery seem to still be good, being at a higher than 80 % capacity.
This is a 8 months old device, last month the computer showed 91 % capacity and even then, I think after not even a year of usage that seems like a pretty quick degradation.

Is this the norm ? Its on a 2019 2 TB i5 MacBook Pro.

NB It's not linear and the measurements are an estimate (they are precise to 1%, but not accurate to 1%).

That is approximately normal / within the expected range.

Chemical batteries have unit-unit variations, consider how even CPUs are different to eachother w.r.t maximum clock speed they can obtain during overclocking, even if they are nominally rated identically.


Bona fines: HW engineer. senior member IEEE.

 

[kodabear]

I have a 2020 MacBook Pro 13" purchased in September. At 3-1/2 months, 22 battery cycles and battery capacity is at 90%. Battery will last between 8 to 9 hours when not connected to the monitor. I'm somewhat concerned but upon reading other posts about this subject, it appears to be normal.

 

[S Cee]

2011 MBP 13" 1084 cycle count, condition normal. I replaced the original battery about 2.5 yrs ago. Not an Apple battery but a good substitute.
So I've had 2 batteries in 9 years and the machine is used daily. I think the original battery would be the superior one and I don't expect its replacement to last as well. But they are real easy to replace.

 

[SRLMJ23]

I juste noticed in coconut battery that my battery is currently at 87% capacity on a laptop that has 106 cycles and was bought in January 2020, is this a normal degradation ? If this continues on a linear path, I am looking at lower than 80 % design capacity at the one year mark. I brought the device to get Applecare+ on the pilot program and while running the diagnostic the tech said everything is alright. He commented that the battery seem to still be good, being at a higher than 80 % capacity.
This is a 8 months old device, last month the computer showed 91 % capacity and even then, I think after not even a year of usage that seems like a pretty quick degradation.

Is this the norm ? Its on a 2019 2 TB i5 MacBook Pro.

It is absolutely not correct behavior. I have a 2015 MacBook Pro, now granted it is plugged in most of the time, but I got my 2015 in May of 2016.

According to Coconut Battery, I have:

2015 13" MacBook Pro:
57 cycles
95.4% Battery Capacity

2019 15" MacBook Pro:
15 cycles
99.6% Battery Capacity

2019 16" MacBook Pro:
12 cycles
99.8% Battery Capacity

I'll have to get back to you on my MacBook Air.

This is what Apple's policy used to be. It still may be:

"Your battery is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 1000 complete charge cycles. The one-year warranty includes replacement coverage for a defective battery. Apple offers a battery replacement service for all MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro notebooks with built-in batteries"

I know you will not get to 1,000 charge cycles by January, however, if that battery drops below 80% by or before the specific date you got your MBP in January, it should be changed by Apple at no cost to you.

Hell, if you take it to an Apple Store and get a cool Genius and/or Manager, they might do it for you because that is certainly not right unless you are abusing it.

Like someone else said, are you letting the battery discharge below 20% or even all the way until it dies and then charging it right back up? As he said, that is not good at all for your battery! Do you keep your MBP in a relatively warm or hot area? That will cause issues with the battery when it discharges and then recharges, or even if it is just plugged in. Heat is the enemy of these types of batteries. That is why I am against wireless charging and fast charging. I charge my iPhone 11 and 12 Pro Max with the old tiny white cube, or an iPad charger. SOMETIMES, if I really need my phone charged then I will use my Apple Fast Charger.

When did you take it to the Apple Store and have the diagnostics run on it? It might be time to take it back to the Apple Store and tell them that your battery appears to be degrading very fast since your last visit with them.

That is really all the advice I can give you. Generally, if you take great care of your stuff (especially Apple products) they will last a long while for you, the same goes for your car and many other things. There are defects, which you might have but you will have to prove that to Apple.

Sorry for the long post!