All iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Battery Capacities Allegedly Leaked

[Moreplease]

But even if we are just looking at video playback Apple rated the 16 Pro at 27 hours and the 13 Pro at 22 hours (22,7% better) while the 16 Pro only had a 15,7% larger battery. So even with the bigger display the 16 Pro is more efficient at video playback, so there’s for sure been efficiency gains from different components for at least some forms of content consumption.

But that just reinforces JPack’s point. A 22.7% increase in battery life on a 15.7% increase in capacity is negligible and pathetic. And that’s over multiple generations of new process nodes and new tech generally. Screen size is almost identical.

The reality is that Apple is under huge pressure (e.g. by Snapdragon 8 Elite) to constantly improve processing speed as demonstrated by benchmarks, because that’s what the wider industry cares about. Having to introduce special cooling features (vapour chamber) in a phone in 2025 after all these years of doing without is crazy. Reducing power consumption in a phone is far more important than improving speed, but reviewers don’t have the wit to realise that.

 

[Reeneman]

Really hope iPhone 17 Pro will be the next 13 Pro when it comes to battery life.

Was the 13 Pro known for a good battery life? Had this one as well but it wasn’t really long lasting. With the 120 hz screen… demanded a lot.

 

[Reeneman]

Would be fine it they would release the version without physical sim tray in Germany.

 

[Moreplease]

Cellular connectivity uses a lot of power when on the go. The display you have much more control over simply by adjusting brightness.

In theory we have control over display brightness, but many (most?) users jam it to max at the first need and never drag it down again.

If you never bring down the brightness manually, eventually the phone learns to waste enormous amounts of power on a very bright display (albeit Apple is smart enough to not let it sit on absolute max).

The bigger the display, the bigger the damage to battery life.

The Air actually has a surprisingly large battery capacity – I guess by a new chemistry – but it is shaping up to be a remarkably efficient phone with, however, a large and probably bright display.

Consequence 1: more of the energy budget than ever before will be spent on the display.

Consequence 2: battery life will vary enormously depending on screen content and brightness, i.e. depending on environmental conditions (indoor versus outdoor) and the user’s savviness in reducing screen power draw to the minimum viable brightness at any moment.

 

[MCKLMT]

Would be fine it they would release the version without physical sim tray in Germany.

Not only in Germany but everywhere.

 

[Reeneman]

9to5Mac wrote:
Apple is expected to launch eSIM-only iPhone 17s in the US, Europe and other markets.

Hmm okay. Would be happy about the higher battery capacity.

 

[ofarlig]

But that just reinforces JPack’s point. A 22.7% increase in battery life on a 15.7% increase in capacity is negligible and pathetic. And that’s over multiple generations of new process nodes and new tech generally. Screen size is almost identical.

The reality is that Apple is under huge pressure (e.g. by Snapdragon 8 Elite) to constantly improve processing speed as demonstrated by benchmarks, because that’s what the wider industry cares about. Having to introduce special cooling features (vapour chamber) in a phone in 2025 after all these years of doing without is crazy. Reducing power consumption in a phone is far more important than improving speed, but reviewers don’t have the wit to realise that.

No his point was that a larger screen would mean the Air has a decrease battery life compared to the 13 Pro at the same battery size and that Apple made no other improvements since then, so the Air’s battery life would be worse than the 13 Pro.

The numbers tell us that even with the increased screen size from the 13 Pro to 16 Pro there was increased battery life for a given battery size just from other efficiency improvements. So expecting the Air to last at least as long as 13 Pro has a lot of merit.

 

[JulianL]

... Anyway, happy with the 17 Pro having just under 4,000 Mh for the SIM model (UK), so will be a noticeable gain on my 15 Pro.

I'm not quite as confident as you in predicting that the UK version will be the (physical) SIM model.

I was terrified when Apple dropped the SIM slot in the USA however many years ago that was because eSIM in the UK was basically unavailable from anywhere except the more expensive plans from the major networks (and maybe not even from all of them at that time) and certainly pretty much impossible to find for the cheaper MVNO plans which is what I have for my current 1-month rolling contract. Now though I'm seeing more and more UK MVNOs offer eSIM, enough that I think Apple might be tempted to see the UK as a "nudge" market where it can now risk going eSIM-only because there are enough UK providers already offering eSIM and those that don't are close enough to being able to offer it that a "nudge" (more like an almighty shove) of needing eSIM to support the latest iPhones will get them to release their eSIM offerings very quickly for fear of losing customers.

My provider (Lebara) is a case in point. It's FAQ is currently saying that they will release eSIM in Q3 2025 so that's the end of this month. Assuming that timings for iPhone announcement/pre-order/release follow historic patterns a Lebara eSIM release would at the latest only be days after first shipments (if Lebara sticks to its timetable).

We also don't know how much work Apple might have been doing over the past few months talking to the major MVNOs in "nudge" markets to forewarn them that they need to get their eSIM act together prior to launch. One good thing about eSIM is that it is a virtual product so to launch there is no need to build physical product, get it to warehouses, sort out distribution etc. If work has been going on in the background to get the software infrastructure set up we might yet see a flurry of eSIM announcements within days of tomorrow's announcement from those UK MVNOs not yet supporting eSIMs.

I admit I might be seeing what I want to see because I like the idea of that extra battery capacity but I guess we'll find out for sure in only just over 24 hours now.

 

[adrianlondon]

Reducing power consumption in a phone is far more important than improving speed, but reviewers don’t have the wit to realise that.

It's a similar issue with wanting more megapixels in crappy little sensor cameras rather than focussing on having less noise.

 

[Jashar7]

Just ahead of Apple unveiling the iPhone 17 series on Tuesday, it appears that battery capacities for the devices have surfaced in a Chinese regulatory database.

The table below lists the alleged battery capacities for each model, which were shared in a post on X today by an account known as ShrimpApplePro.

The database suggests that the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will be available with and without a physical SIM card slot, depending on the country of sale. For the base model iPhone 17, however, it appears that only one battery capacity for that device has been discovered in the database so far.

It was previously rumored that Apple plans to eliminate the SIM card tray from iPhones in more countries beyond the U.S. this year, but it will likely continue to exist in some countries, due to limited eSIM availability or other reasons. For example, some iPhone 17 models might still have a SIM card slot in China, due to local regulations.

Notably, the iPhone 17 Air is the model that is most expected to lack a physical SIM card slot in many countries, due to its ultra-thin design with limited internal space.

Given the SIM card tray takes up some space inside an iPhone, the models with such a tray appear to have slightly lower battery capacities than eSIM-only variants.

Model	With SIM Card Tray	Without SIM Card Tray
iPhone 17
iPhone 17 Air	3,036 mAh	3,149 mAh
iPhone 17 Pro	3,988 mAh	4,252 mAh
iPhone 17 Pro Max	4,823 mAh	5,088 mAh

3,692 mAh*


* Unclear if this capacity is for a model with or without a SIM card tray.

MacRumors has access to the regulatory database shown in the screenshot, but it has yet to independently confirm these listings.

A few takeaways based on these alleged capacities:

• As rumored, the iPhone 17 Pro Max would become the first iPhone model to cross the 5,000 mAh battery capacity mark. With a 5,088 mAh battery, the device would have a nearly 8% larger battery compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
• Another rumor that appears to be accurate is the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air having around a 3,000 mAh battery capacity, which is on the lower side for an iPhone. However, the device will benefit from Apple's power-efficient C1 modem for cellular connectivity, and Apple reportedly plans to release an iPhone 17 Air battery case.

Given that Apple is now required to show an energy label on its iPhone product pages in the EU, official battery capacities might be published later this week.

Article Link: All iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro Battery Capacities Allegedly Leaked

iPhone 17 Air makes no sense, the battery is trash plus the whole point of it is just because it’s thin? But then the rumors about Apple releasing “MagSafe batteries” and when you put it on it again will become as thick as a normal iPhone… wtf is even Apple thinking

 

[FastLaneJB]

Seriously going to lose about 6% battery capacity in the pro models because of the SIM tray?

You’re not losing capacity, more you aren’t able to gain more capacity. Previously the iPhones without the SIM slot just had an empty space, this is the first year they are filling that space with more battery.

 

[macjaffa]

iPhone 17 Air makes no sense, the battery is trash plus the whole point of it is just because it’s thin? But then the rumors about Apple releasing “MagSafe batteries” and when you put it on it again will become as thick as a normal iPhone… wtf is even Apple thinking

> when you put it on it again will become as thick as a normal iPhone… wtf is even Apple thinking

Now get this, this is the incredible bit. Strap in, it's hard to believe, -- when you take it off again will become even thinner than a normal iPhone.

Man, that Tim Apple is a genius

 

[Moreplease]

It’s clever of Apple to release SKUs with different battery life depending on whether they have a SIM card tray or not.

Sure, it costs money right now, but it will force the carriers kicking and screaming to adopt eSIM – and that will reduce costs for Apple in the long run.

A 6% difference of battery life is nearly irrelevant, but people are bad at making such nuanced judgements. They will hear that a SIM tray hurts battery life and demand eSIM.

 

[neuropsychguy]

I suggest that people making various comments trashing the unknown battery life of the iPhone Air wait until we know its actual battery life before commenting. Also, maybe look up the word egocentrism and figure out how it applies to your assumptions about how people use phones.

 

[QuarterSwede]

You don’t need a battery case. And you don’t need it on the device 24/7

I rocked the 13 Mini for two years without any battery case. And that phone had 2400 mAh

The #1 complaint from mini owners was battery life (it was definitely my wife’s). The Air is probably their answer to the issue, completely missing the obvious size difference, of course.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

The 17 Air has less capacity than my 15 Pro (3274 mah). Glad I’m sitting out this round.

The 14/15/16 haven't had major battery life increases, despite the battery size increasing. The Air battery is larger than my 13 mini, but until we get some reviews I'm not convinced it will lead to longer battery life.

I guess if the thinness means I can use it single handed I may consider it, assuming the screen on time is respectable.

 

[JulianL]

I wonder whether Apple is hoping that the Air might resurrect a phenomenon seen in the mobile phone market in the mid 1990s, at least in some parts of Europe when Nokia was pretty much king of the industry. At its height, in Finland at least, the average number of mobile phones owned by young adults (I cant remember the exact age range) was greater than one because many of the rich cool kids owned 2 phones, a more substantial device for daytime/work use and the thinnest smallest model they could get for evening use when out clubbing etc.

Perhaps now the price/affordability equation has changed for high-end devices so if that behaviour did ever come back it would be amongst far too few people to be interesting but it is at least a potential use case for the iPhone Air.

And thinking aloud to myself here, for those people saying how stupid it is to release a thin phone and then bulk it up with a battery case, maybe that's another way to get the Finland effect - use your Air with a battery case during your work day and then when you're going out in the evening just detach it so that you have only the thin light Air with you while you're busting some moves on the dance floor. (People can probably tell that it's been a long time since I did any clubbing!)

 

[snipr125]

I'm not quite as confident as you in predicting that the UK version will be the (physical) SIM model.

I was terrified when Apple dropped the SIM slot in the USA however many years ago that was because eSIM in the UK was basically unavailable from anywhere except the more expensive plans from the major networks (and maybe not even from all of them at that time) and certainly pretty much impossible to find for the cheaper MVNO plans which is what I have for my current 1-month rolling contract. Now though I'm seeing more and more UK MVNOs offer eSIM, enough that I think Apple might be tempted to see the UK as a "nudge" market where it can now risk going eSIM-only because there are enough UK providers already offering eSIM and those that don't are close enough to being able to offer it that a "nudge" (more like an almighty shove) of needing eSIM to support the latest iPhones will get them to release their eSIM offerings very quickly for fear of losing customers.

My provider (Lebara) is a case in point. It's FAQ is currently saying that they will release eSIM in Q3 2025 so that's the end of this month. Assuming that timings for iPhone announcement/pre-order/release follow historic patterns a Lebara eSIM release would at the latest only be days after first shipments (if Lebara sticks to its timetable).

We also don't know how much work Apple might have been doing over the past few months talking to the major MVNOs in "nudge" markets to forewarn them that they need to get their eSIM act together prior to launch. One good thing about eSIM is that it is a virtual product so to launch there is no need to build physical product, get it to warehouses, sort out distribution etc. If work has been going on in the background to get the software infrastructure set up we might yet see a flurry of eSIM announcements within days of tomorrow's announcement from those UK MVNOs not yet supporting eSIMs.

I admit I might be seeing what I want to see because I like the idea of that extra battery capacity but I guess we'll find out for sure in only just over 24 hours now.

Yes im only assuming we will get the SIM version in the UK, however went on holiday to Mauritius 3 weeks ago and got a tourist esim (My.t) at the airport and they set it up in seconds on my 15 Pro and wifes S25 Ultra. No issues at all, and very easy to enable/disable in settings, so i have no issues if we get the esim model in the UK with a larger battery.

Regarding the 17 Air, with 3036 or 3149 Mh size battery it wont be too bad for non power users. I reckon it will be initially popular as it’s a new design iPhone, with a large screen and lightweight body which will be its main USP.

 

[Moreplease]

many of the rich cool kids owned 2 phones, a more substantial device for daytime/work use and the thinnest smallest model they could get for evening use when out clubbing etc.

Perhaps now the price/affordability equation has changed for high-end devices so if that behaviour did ever come back

In addition to the price/affordability equation there is the fact that kids don’t go out anymore. They’re terminally online and sure as heck not going out clubbing. Maybe a Starbucks if they’re unexpectedly stuck in town for an hour.

use your Air with a battery case during your work day and then when you're going out in the evening

Who are these people going out in the evening? Young people are broke and anyway too anxious to even make eye contact while talking, never mind busting moves on a dance floor. Where have you been since Covid? (Only teasing you, by the way.)

 

[Moreplease]

No issues at all, and very easy to enable/disable in settings, so i have no issues if we get the esim model in the UK with a larger battery.

Do you know if it’s also easy to convert a physical SIM card to an eSIM, for those who don’t want to change their number? There must be a procedure for that, right? Does it disable the physical SIM card?

 

[joeblow7777]

You’re not losing capacity, more you aren’t able to gain more capacity. Previously the iPhones without the SIM slot just had an empty space, this is the first year they are filling that space with more battery.

"Lose" was perhaps the wrong word. You're right. All models are gaining battery capacity relative to their 16 counterparts. To rephrase, pro models miss out on gaining about 6% more battery capacity if they have a SIM tray.

 

[derek1984]

Wouldn't a battery case defeat the purpose of having the Air?

 

[SRQrws]

Can any of the beta users of the new iOS comment on its impact on battery life? I'm wondering if liquid glass (and other new features/changes) have a negative impact compared to the current iOS.

 

[snipr125]

Do you know if it’s also easy to convert a physical SIM card to an eSIM, for those who don’t want to change their number? There must be a procedure for that, right? Does it disable the physical SIM card?

Im sure the network provider can do this easily, and will disable the SIM card for sure. When i got an esim second line the customer service person changed the settings herself literally in seconds.

 

[joeblow7777]

Do you know if it’s also easy to convert a physical SIM card to an eSIM, for those who don’t want to change their number? There must be a procedure for that, right? Does it disable the physical SIM card?

I imagine this depends on the carrier, but if they support eSIM at all, they'd almost certainly have a way to switch from physical without losing your number. And yes, it would disable your physical SIM.