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Apple Lists iPhone 17, iPhone Air, and iPhone 17 Pro Battery Capacities

FeliApple said:
As I’ve said elsewhere (without having seen the battery capacity)… how is Apple achieving 16 Plus-like battery life on the 17 Air with a 3,149 mAh battery?

I’ve managed to get Apple-spec battery life on iPhones since the early Plus models. I got 16 hours of SOT on my iPhone Xʀ on iOS 12. I’m getting 27 hours of SOT on my 16 Plus on iOS 18. How is Apple matching that with the Air? I’m very curious (and significantly skeptical).

In real-world use… does the 17 Air really match my 16 Plus on iOS 18 (NOT on iOS 26, as the update will probably impact battery life somewhat).
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ProMotion makes a massive difference. People always say that their iPhone Pro’s screen looks smoother, but a lot of that is BS in normal use. Your iPhone 16 (and earlier) is stuck at 60Hz even when reading MacRumors, or watching a 24Hz video, but any iPhone with a ProMotion screen can scale down to 10Hz, and even down to 1Hz on the newer models. Great for looking at static content!! That saves a lot of energy.

The other main difference is perhaps the new C1X chip Apple is using on some phones, which the Pro models don’t get.

One other thing: screen size. You can’t compare your Plus to an iPhone 14/15 Pro because their screen size is so different. More pixels to light up, and more to refresh.

Then there the minor efficiency gains from using newer processors, more RAM, etc.
 
Yuuuki said:
Can anyone explain to me why according to Apple the iPhone 17 Pro has only 1 hour longer battery life than the normal 17? How does that make any sense if the battery is that much bigger?
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Probably because the Pro has a faster chip, the A19 Pro vs A19, 6 core GPU vs 5 core GPU, so I'd imagine that's going to take more juice to power.
 
Very good to see an increase in capacity. Battery for the Air is also better than anticipated. Waiting to see how long the new phones last in real life.
 
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Abstract said:
ProMotion makes a massive difference. People always say that their iPhone Pro’s screen looks smoother, but a lot of that is BS in normal use. Your iPhone 16 (and earlier) is stuck at 60Hz even when reading MacRumors, or watching a 24Hz video, but any iPhone with a ProMotion screen can scale down to 10Hz, and even down to 1Hz on the newer models. Great for looking at static content!! That saves a lot of energy.

The other main difference is perhaps the new C1X chip Apple is using on some phones, which the Pro models don’t get.

One other thing: screen size. You can’t compare your Plus to an iPhone 14/15 Pro because their screen size is so different. More pixels to light up, and more to refresh.

Then there the minor efficiency gains from using newer processors, more RAM, etc.
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Yeah, but I’m not sure I’ve seen the Pro models since the iPhone 13 Pro with that difference in spite of the 120hz display.

I pay attention to people’s battery life screenshots. The 11 Pro Max’s improvements were massive, and immediately apparent.

With the 13 Pro, not so much. I get that in theory it is that much better, it’s just that I haven’t seen that translated into real-world use.

I’ve never had a Pro iPhone with the 120hz display, and in that same area, I’ve never had a ProMotion iPad, either.

But the indications I’ve seen don’t match that massive difference, and neither do Apple’s specs, as the 13 Pro is rated for 22 hours vs 19 for the regular 13 with no ProMotion (3,227 mAh vs 3,095 mAh for the Pro, or an efficiency improvement of about 19%). Significant, but not as massive as the Air.

Also, the Air has a similar screen size.

Apple claimed a 22% efficiency improvement with the Pro’s ProMotion. Apple claims a 33% efficiency improvement with this… eh, maybe.

But I’d like to try it myself. Even with my light usage (I get 27 hours as rated on my 16 Plus), I’m skeptical.

And I also have another question… why did Apple release the battery case? If the battery life matches the Plus. It makes no sense to limit the case to that model, as if you were expecting people to complain, and therefore it’s as if you were expecting the Air not to be as good. If it really has 27 hours of light mixed use, why release the battery case only for the Air? Why not develop one for the regular 17, which is quite close to the Air in terms of battery life (allegedly)?
 
Instead of hours of video playback being the benchmark I would like to see a benchmark of continuous GPS use. I could never watch so many hours of video between charges but I often deplete my iPhone battery when using the phone for navigation while hiking or cycling.
 
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Is the confirmation that the eSIM and SIM versions have the same battery capacity?
I don’t think it would make sense for them to differ them, would be costly.

Macomatic said:
Instead of hours of video playback being the benchmark I would like to see a benchmark of continuous GPS use. I could never watch so many hours of video between charges but I often deplete my iPhone battery when using the phone for navigation while hiking or cycling.
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Absolutely agreed with this, it has been many years since screens have become incredibly efficient along with the chipset to run videos for many hours without really impacting battery life much, it is now pretty much expected that you will see long video stream battery life.

GPS should well and truly be the benchmark, any sort of Location based activity is still a huge battery hog on all of these smartphones, one would have thought they are prioritising this but it seems very difficult, even Android manufacturers tend to run away from talking about battery life with GPS usage, lol…and those phones now have +6000mAh batteries.
 
I personally believe that these are the capacities of iPhones that will enter EU market. Each supplier is obligated by EU authorities to provide a technical file of the device they will be selling. Thus, it won't make sense for Apple to provide the mAH for the eSIM only variants because those won't be sold here. They are risking hefty fines for wrong information.

See here the technical files submitted to European Product Registry for Energy Labelling:
Hope this helps!
 
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adrianlondon said:
Probably not accurate.

The filing above for the Pro Max states it's for variant A3526.

This site has the battery listed at 4,823 mAh

iPhone 17 Pro Max Model Number A3257, A3525, A3526, A3527 Differences - TechWalls

We have the model numbers A3257, A3525, A3526, and A3527 for different markets around the globe. Here's a breakdown of each model and their corresponding part numbers.
www.techwalls.com www.techwalls.com
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Why would this site be more accurate than an official EU required document?

I think it’s a major issue if they advertised the US spec mAh.
 
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DanRO said:
Why would this site be more accurate than an official EU required document?

I think it’s a major issue if they advertised the US spec mAh.
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The Apple websites list a larger battery capacity (longer video playback times, which is how Apple seems to measure them) for countries selling eSIM-only phones.
 
adrianlondon said:
The Apple websites list a larger battery capacity (longer video playback times, which is how Apple seems to measure them) for countries selling eSIM-only phones.
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Maybe the battery for the US spec is even higher?

Are there any official authorities from the US that might list the official mAh?

Realistically speaking we will know for sure when the phones will arrive and people will start opening them
 
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DanRO said:
Maybe the battery for the US spec is even higher?

Are there any official authorities from the US that might list the official mAh?

Realistically speaking we will know for sure when the phones will arrive and people will start opening them
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I think this is the case, to be honest. But I guess we’ll have to wait and see for when they will be opened-up.
 
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