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Apple Predicted to Build Its Own Power Management Chip for iPhones Within Two Years

freediverx said:
I always take battery improvement claims with a grain of salt. Usually they translate into marginal improvements in a device's stand-by time, while having little to no impact on its battery life under moderate to heavy use. It does me little good if my iPhone can lie dormant for a month in sleep mode if it still fails to last a single day with normal usage.
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Rapid advances over the last few years in improved battery design, along with better power management strategy/design, reduced semiconductor geometries, and efficient software design all work hand-in-hand. It's why we have laptops and tablets that have such long run-times today.

Hardly marginal improvements from when much thicker laptops with larger batteries typically ran for 3-4 hours not so long ago.
 
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Jsameds said:
What Apple have actually done, since 2014: More battery life in the same size phone.
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Are you referring to improvements in useful battery life or mainly in standby time? Most of us haven't noticed any significant changes in useful battery life, except for those of us willing to carry around a phablet-sized Plus model or the smaller-screened SE.
 
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TechRemarker said:
While no one would turn down more battery life, for most of us, we can easily get through a normal day on a single charge without an issue. So for all those people, having a thicker device for additional battery life they don't need wouldn't be a good solution. As the people who do need more battery life and are fine with a thicker phone, can simply get one of many available battery packs that vary in thickness depending on how much battery you need.
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I don't understand the battery thing people have either. Do they not have electricity where they work and car chargers?
 
TomA said:
Based on what I've seen, this is a minority opinion.
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While I long for better battery life, I don't want a thicker and heavier phone. (I don't want a thinner one either, lol.)


In any event, quickcharge would solve the problem and they don't even have that.
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I don't think it'll solve the problem, but it can sure help. I'm optimistic this year's models will all have that.
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Brandhouse said:
Share price of a company drops after a industry insider makes a prediction, I'd be hanging my head in shame if I was that person.
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I'm sure his shame is offset by the kickbacks he gets from investors who shorted the stock.
 
0150817 said:
What everyone ever thinks: "More battery life in the same size phone, yay!"
What Apple thinks: "Thinner phone"
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What people actually say here: If there isn't a total over haul of the design I am out.
 
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freediverx said:
Are you referring to improvements in useful battery life or mainly in standby time? Most of us haven't noticed any significant changes in useful battery life, except for those of us willing to carry around a phablet-sized Plus model or the smaller-screened SE.
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Both. On average it's improved from 6 to 7 in the same sized device.

audio:
6: 50
6S: 50
7: 40

video:
6: 11
6S: 11
7: 13

Talk over 3G:
6: 14
6S: 14
7: 14

Browsing over 3G:
6: 10
6S: 10
7: 12

Browsing over LTE:
6: 10
6S: 10
7: 12

Browsing over Wi-Fi:
6: 11
6S: 11
7: 14

Standby:
6: 250
6S: 240
7: 240

From Wiki
 
Superhappytree said:
I'm surprised this isn't more well known, I assumed everyone knew it charged faster with it. I've been doing this for the past 5 years and is why I'm not bothered about the whole "quickcharge" thing, every time I see someone complain about iPhones lack of it I'm just like: "What are you talking about? iPhones already charge within 90 mins". I forget there's many that just use the standard plug that comes with it.
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My biggest complaint with battery life is while traveling. That's when you're most reliant on a smartphone, yet have the least opportunity to sit idle for an hour and a half to recharge it mid-day. And heaven forbid you try shooting some video, because then you'll kill the battery almost instantly.
 
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TomA said:
I don't care much about wireless charging, but if the iPhone 8 doesn't support quickcharge, I'll be buying my first Samsung phone this fall. I'm sick of having a phone that is dead before noon.
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It's good to point out that quick charging Li batts destroys their long term capacity at a much more rapid rate than charging at lower rates.

To Samsung, I doubt this makes much difference (if not looked at as a good thing). It'll be interesting to see if Apple goes down this road or not.

freediverx said:
My biggest complaint with battery life is while traveling. That's when you're most reliant on a smartphone, yet have the least opportunity to sit idle for an hour and a half to recharge it mid-day.
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After using an SE for a while now, I would love if Apple would go with slightly thicker phones and bigger bats...having not to charge daily is so nice.
 
citysnaps said:
Rapid advances over the last few years in improved battery design, along with better power management strategy/design, reduced semiconductor geometries, and efficient software design all work hand-in-hand. It's why we have laptops and tablets that have such long run-times today.

Hardly marginal improvements from when much thicker laptops with larger batteries typically ran for 3-4 hours not so long ago.
Click to expand...

I'm writing this on a 2013 Retina MacBook Pro. Battery life with light usage is about 4-5 hours. Brand new 2017 $3000+ MacBook Pros? About the same.

I've bought a new iPhone every year and I've yet to own a model that lasts all day (morning to evening at least) with moderate use on a single charge. An extra 30 minutes here or there makes no difference. It either lasts me all day or it doesn't. That's the objective.
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ryanwarsaw said:
I don't understand the battery thing people have either. Do they not have electricity where they work and car chargers?
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If you do any traveling, are away from the office for extended periods of time, or if you spend much of the day running from one meeting to another, you will find yourself with a dying battery before the day is over.
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Jsameds said:
Both. On average it's improved from 6 to 7 in the same sized device.

audio:
6: 50
6S: 50
7: 40

video:
6: 11
6S: 11
7: 13

Talk over 3G:
6: 14
6S: 14
7: 14

Browsing over 3G:
6: 10
6S: 10
7: 12

Browsing over LTE:
6: 10
6S: 10
7: 12

Browsing over Wi-Fi:
6: 11
6S: 11
7: 14

Standby:
6: 250
6S: 240
7: 240

From Wiki
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LOL, I don't consider a 2 minute improvement (or less) to be significant over a two year span.


audio: 10 minute loss!

video: 2 minute gain

Talk over 3G: no improvement

Browsing over 3G: 2 minute gain

Browsing over LTE: 2 minute gain

Browsing over Wi-Fi: 2 minute gain

Standby: couldn't care less
 
now i see it said:
So Apple gets the employee poacher of the year award. First Imagination, now Dialog. Gotta luv em.
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Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe used to have no poaching agreements. You might recall this led to a $400+ million settlement to put to rest an antipoaching civil lawsuit that accused the companies of conspiring not to hire each other's employees.

Antipoaching agreements are rightly illegal, since they impede an employee's ability to negotiate the best compensation. I'll take the side of an employee any day over their employer's bottom line.
 
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Sasparilla said:
It's good to point out that quick charging Li batts destroys their long term capacity at a much more rapid rate than charging at lower rates.

To Samsung, I doubt this makes much difference (if not looked at as a good thing). It'll be interesting to see if Apple goes down this road or not.
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Most people replace their phones every couple of years or so, and battery replacement is also possible. So I think faster charging trumps long term battery life.

After using an SE for a while now, I would love if Apple would go with slightly thicker phones and bigger bats...having not to charge daily is so nice.
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The SE gets great battery life because it has a slower processor and a smaller display. I suspect Apple has experimented with slightly thicker iPhones and concluded that the additional battery life wasn't significant enough to offset the added weight and volume.
 
I'm not a shareholder but the more Apple uses their cash-pile now to own more parts of their supply chain, the better.

Investing billions in NAND flash 10 years ago has paid off very well for them as have their work on the A-Series SOCs. If they can build their own camera sensors, power management, radios, screens and batteries, it would hurt the bottom line now but the investment would pay off heavily over the next decade.

I wish Apple would build their devices end to end but they're still far from that. Since Tim cook came to Apple as supply chain manager, they've essentially turned into a glorified design house and that's okay but I think they have the capital now to own more of this.
 
Jsameds said:
Those are hours, not minutes.
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Ah, I missed that. But those stats are misleading since I believe they're based on the iPhone performing only a single function the whole time with the display and all background functions turned off. It's a bit misleading to claim 50 hours of audio playback time when under normal usage the battery will be dead in 12 hours or less.

It's also ironic that there's no mention of battery life while shooting photos and video, given that the camera is one of the iPhone's leading selling points. In my experience, shooting slow mo and time lapse videos will quickly drain your battery in minutes.


Regardless, that improvement only appeared in the 7 model (which is the first iPhone upgrade I skipped.)
 
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TomA said:
Based on what I've seen, this is a minority opinion.

In any event, quickcharge would solve the problem and they don't even have that.
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No company is going to cater to a small minority of their customers. Apple knows that most people want thin and light and most people do not have power issues with charging. You are watching too many Samsung commercials and believing their counter Apple marketing.
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GucciPiggy said:
It's not even remotely close to as good as quickcharge. My iPhone 7 Plus still charges very noticeably slower with the iPad charger than my Pixel XL and OP3T...
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Most people don't compare the speed of two charges so they don't even know or care about the difference. Everyone wants faster charging but there are always tradeoffs that come with such features. Apple simply hasn't engineered a solution that leads to good battery lifetime, safe charging and is scalable. But they'll probably have some improvements this year even if they don't officially announce it.
 
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freediverx said:
I'm writing this on a 2013 Retina MacBook Pro. Battery life with light usage is about 4-5 hours. Brand new 2017 $3000+ MacBook Pros? About the same.

I've bought a new iPhone every year and I've yet to own a model that lasts all day (morning to evening at least) with moderate use on a single charge. An extra 30 minutes here or there makes no difference. It either lasts me all day or it doesn't. That's the objective.
[doublepost=1491918919][/doublepost]

If you do any traveling, are away from the office for extended periods of time, or if you spend much of the day running from one meeting to another, you will find yourself with a dying battery before the day is over.
[doublepost=1491919211][/doublepost]

LOL, I don't consider a 2 minute improvement (or less) to be significant over a two year span.


audio: 10 minute loss!

video: 2 minute gain

Talk over 3G: no improvement

Browsing over 3G: 2 minute gain

Browsing over LTE: 2 minute gain

Browsing over Wi-Fi: 2 minute gain

Standby: couldn't care less
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I have a new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and I get way more than the 5 hours you claim. Do you even have one ? Recent updates to MacOS have actually helped. Also, you have yet to own an iPhone that can not go all day with moderate use ? You have to be making this up. I have no issues at all using my iPhone 7 all day at work with a single charge. And my friend has an iPhone 7+ that goes almost 2 days with no problem with moderate use. Sure you are not using an Android...lol.
 
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Battery technology hasn't improved enough to keep up with the ever powerful phones etc. I remember reading about various Apple battery/power management patents over the years.

Maybe they are now at a point to go it alone and differeante.

Very interesting the direction Apple are going with custom made hardware.
 
DoctorDoctor said:
I have a new MacBook Pro with Touch Bar and I get way more than the 5 hours you claim. Do you even have one ? Recent updates to MacOS have actually helped. Also, you have yet to own an iPhone that can not go all day with moderate use ? You have to be making this up. I have no issues at all using my iPhone 7 all day at work with a single charge. And my friend has an iPhone 7+ that goes almost 2 days with no problem with moderate use. Sure you are not using an Android...lol.
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I don't have an iPhone 7 but have owned every model before it. Plus models don't count, since now you're in phablet territory. With some luck, an iPhone 6S's battery *may* last until 5-6PM, assuming you use it lightly.
 
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