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

[Abstract]

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).

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.

 

[cualexander]

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?

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.

 

[svish]

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.

 

[FeliApple]

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.

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)?

 

[Macomatic]

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.