Alleged iPhone 16 Battery Details Show Smaller Capacity for One Model

[MacRumors]

Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup will feature bigger battery capacities compared to previous-generation models with the exception of the iPhone 16 Plus, which will have a smaller battery than its predecessor.

That's according to the Chinese Weibo-based leaker OvO Baby Sauce OvO, a relatively new source of supply chain leaks with an as-yet unproven track record for accuracy.

The iPhone 16 battery capacity details posted by the Weibo leaker match figures previously shared on X by "Majin Bu," with the notable addition of a figure for the iPhone 16 Pro model, which Majin Bu omitted. That makes this leak the first time we have been provided with alleged iPhone 16 battery capacity changes across the board.

The figures show that the ‌iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro,‌ and iPhone 16 Pro Max will feature larger batteries than their predecessors, but the ‌iPhone 16‌ Plus is allegedly facing a reduction in terms of battery capacity compared to the iPhone 15 Plus.

Why that would be the case isn't clear, since apart from the size difference, both the iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Plus are expected to have an identical feature set. One possibility is that the capacity reduction turns out to be negligible in real terms thanks to efficiency improvements in other areas. On the other hand, by reducing capacity, Apple could be trying to maximize differentiation between the iPhone 16 Plus and the iPhone 16 Pro Max in an attempt to nudge customers toward the premium features (and prices) of its top tier model.

	iPhone 15 Lineup (2023)	iPhone 16 Lineup (2024)	% Change
[Standard]	3,349 mAh	3,561 mAh	+6%
Plus	4,383 mAh	4,006 mAh	-9%
Pro	3,274 mAh	3,355 mAh	+2.5
Pro Max	4,422 mAh	4,676 mAh	+5%

When the iPhone 14 Plus was introduced into Apple's smartphone lineup to replace the iPhone 13 mini, it gave customers the opportunity to own a device with the same 6.7-inch display as the iPhone 14 Pro Max without paying a premium. In addition, the iPhone 14 Plus also had the advantage of a larger capacity battery than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, allowing Apple to market the device as featuring "our longest battery life."

However, with the advent of the iPhone 15 series, Apple increased the battery capacity of the iPhone 15 Pro Max to make it the largest battery ever used in an iPhone.

According to another rumor, this year's ‌iPhone 16 Pro‌ Max will boast an even bigger 30-hour-plus battery life (compared to 29 hours for the iPhone 15 Pro Max). Not only that, both the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are expected to have slightly larger displays. If Apple does intend to reduce the battery in the iPhone 16 Plus, it would widen the gap further between the two tiers. The iPhone 16 lineup is expected to be announced in the fall.

Article Link: Alleged iPhone 16 Battery Details Show Smaller Capacity for One Model

 

[truthsteve]

and people be complaining before they see how long the battery life is

"Tim Cook trying to squeeze $0.50 from me!!"

 

[klasma]

Of course, the 15 Plus’ battery life was just too good.

 

[contacos]

Of course, the 15 Plus’ battery life was just too good.

Indeed! Can’t have a cheaper Non-Pro device stand out in battery tests by YouTuber X Y which brings us to the question of „why even release Non-Pro models?“ (we obviously know the answer)

 

[Qubelek]

16 Plus cant beat 16 pro max battery like it was in 15’s series ^^ Apple wants us to buy 16 pro max instead of 16 plus

 

[madmin]

Some people may prefer a big screen with less weight

 

[lenningj]

be interesting to see a table comparing over the past 4 gens of iPhones for all models the mah for each

 

[JosephAW]

iPhone Mini Possibly?
One can hope.

 

[ItsASpider]

The Plus outperformed all the others, so this is just a "**** you" from Apple.

 

[mac38728]

15 plus has amazing battery life, heavy use day and it’ll be 40 by the end of day. Sad to see they noticed how it outperformed every single iPhone model and are nerfing it to boost sales.

 

[orbital~debris]

Clickbait-ey headline.
Reminds me of those junk "one weird trick" ads.

 

[UltimaKilo]

Wow, the 16PM with a more efficient A series and bigger battery could add 10% battery over the predecessor. That would be an incredible battery life and a reason worth upgrading from my 13PM.

To be fair, I’m a road warrior, so an extra 1-2 hours of battery life is huge for me.

 

[ifxf]

I wish my ipad pro battery life was as good as my iphone 15 battery life.

 

[krspkbl]

Makes sense. The 15 Plus battery was doing better than 15 Pro Max. Gotta push people to the more expensive model.

iPhone Mini Possibly?
One can hope.

Doesn't exist and probably never will again.

 

[Sasparilla]

Will have to see if this pans out, if it does - it's Apple doing the en********ation to the 16 Plus, I despise seeing in so many other tech companies (typically advertising based). Hopefully that is not the case, but we'll see.

 

[Tsepz]

I am not at all convinced that this will come true. Apple know full well the Plus range has great battery life, both 14 Plus and 15 Plus ad campaigns saw heavy focus on their Battery Life.

The “leakers” seem to be getting completely misguided, IMO.

Happy to be proved wrong when Apple announce the 16 range, but I highly doubt the battery of the 16 Plus will be drastically smaller than 15 Plus battery.

 

[cicalinarrot]

This is no way more unethical than all other corporations' strategies to maximize profit.
It just pissed people off because they've shown us that they could easily put a better battery in that phone.

 

[neuropsychguy]

I am not at all convinced that this will come true. Apple know full well the Plus range has great battery life, both 14 Plus and 15 Plus ad campaigns saw heavy focus on their Battery Life.

The “leakers” seem to be getting completely misguided, IMO.

Happy to be proved wrong when Apple announce the 16 range, but I highly doubt the battery of the 16 Plus will be drastically smaller than 15 Plus battery.

Even if the battery is smaller, that doesn't mean the device will have shorter battery life.

 

[Sippincider]

It just pissed people off because they've shown us that they could easily put a better battery in that phone.

Like an automaker, where you need to buy the premium package to get the good features and good drive train in the same freaking chassis.

 

[MartyvH]

The standard 16 is looking very good!

 

[coffeemilktea]

And here I had been thinking that Samsung was getting cheap by putting only a 5000 mAh battery in their most expensive phone (even Google, a company normally allergic to big batteries, put a slightly larger battery in their flagship), while Chinese OEMs just casually drop 5500+ mAh in their phones like it's no big deal.

Meanwhile, Apple... 😐

 

[NMBob]

Sure, they can reduce a battery's capacity, but they can't get rid of that area of dead pixels in the display.

 

[ksec]

This is probably Apple going with more efficient Display and SoC, so they could afford to have a smaller battery while offering the same Battery Life.

But the thing is, they could have offering a super battery life iPhone Plus.

 

[Chrisjmv]

They could even put more and more battery size in, but then there will be no more selling point for future phones.
i

 

[sw1tcher]

It's called shrinkflation