Battery Health on MBP 16" is 93% after 32 cycles.. and was never 100% out of the box.

[khalitzy]

This doesn't look normal to me.. I tried resetting SMC and reinstalling MacOS. None helped increase it. Is this normal? I'm worried..



UPDATE: I ended up selling my machine few months ago, and I replaced it with the base M1 Air with 16 GB of RAM. And it’s better in almost every way.

 

[dukebound85]

I wouldn't worry about it

 

[khalitzy]

I wouldn't worry about it

is the decreaste at this rate normal..? 7% in a couple of months and 32 cycles seems very weird to me.. Ik people with over 100 cycles on older MBPs and they're still at 99-100% battery health :x

 

[dukebound85]

I have put replacement batteries in that aren't 100% capacity out of the box. Every batt is different. If it drops below 80% take it to apple. Otherwise, you will find that Apple won't do anything but also that the battery % will stabilize

 

[Smoothie]

You can try to calibrate the battery measurement. I haven't done this in awhile, but I think you use the MBP until it shuts off due to low battery. (Ignore the low battery warnings, but make sure you've saved any data before it shuts off.) Then let it sit for a few hours. Then charge it fully. See if that changes the capacity measurement. You shouldn't do this too much since it's hard on a lithium battery.

 

[khalitzy]

You can try to calibrate the battery measurement. I haven't done this in awhile, but I think you use the MBP until it shuts off due to low battery. (Ignore the low battery warnings, but make sure you've saved any data before it shuts off.) Then let it sit for a few hours. Then charge it fully. See if that changes the capacity measurement. You shouldn't do this too much since it's hard on a lithium battery.

I forgot to mention in my post that I tried that a couple of times, unfortunately to no dice.

 

[Smoothie]

I forgot to mention in my post that I tried that a couple of times, unfortunately to no dice.

I'd live with it then. See if it adjusts itself over time. I agree with you that it shouldn't be showing that much wear at this point, but battery capacity measurement is always an approximation.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

Mine here bought in November.

 

[ascender]

If you're still getting normal usage out of the battery I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[maflynn]

People get too wrapped up about cycle counts and not hitting 100%. I've had a number of laptops and even replacement batteries that didn't hit a projected 100%. If the computer works as it should and you get around the advertised battery performance, I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[marklcfc]

Mine here bought in November.

Any idea why my capacity is much lower than yours? I only bought it last week.

 

[MrGunnyPT]

Any idea why my capacity is much lower than yours? I only bought it last week.
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Are you always on battery? 90% of the time I work on the computer besides being on the couch I'm plugged in.

Also I rarely use the dGPU only when connected to displays

 

[mick2]

Any idea why my capacity is much lower than yours? I only bought it last week.
View attachment 900254

You're comparing your 15 inch MBP to his 16 inch MBP. Different machines.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Check coconutBattery after it is 100% charged (Not charging) - that's what I usually do when I record my readings. I think that the system, when under load and when not fully charged reduces battery capacity --- this is an assumption on my part, no evidence to back this up.

My 2017 MBP has 72 cycles, I've had it for 2 years, and it's at 96%. It started out at >100% capacity tho.

I've had Apple Devices at 96% capacity from factory. As long as it is >80% then Apple won't do anything about it (within AppleCare period).

Make sure your coconutBattery is updated too. I've found readings changed with an update especially for just released devices.


If I was you, I'd use it heavily and keep an eye on it. If it dips closer to 80% ask Apple to check it out with an appointment.

My wife's 2017 MBP dropped to 93% almost instantly within months of ownership. 2 years later it's at about 90%. So battery capacity loss isn't consistent.
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Any idea why my capacity is much lower than yours? I only bought it last week.
View attachment 900254

You're comparing your 15 inch MBP to his 16 inch MBP. Different machines.

Correct, every laptop has a differently sized battery. My 2017 MBP 13' has a 4315 mAh battery.

 

[marklcfc]

Are you always on battery? 90% of the time I work on the computer besides being on the couch I'm plugged in.

Also I rarely use the dGPU only when connected to displays

I was just charging when I took the photo, I've only had the laptop on for about 2 hours since I bought it.

 

[khalitzy]

It’s just weird to me that under 32 cycles my capacity dropped this much. I tried calibrating the battery multiple times to no avail. I know some of you had had machines that never hit the 100% capacity, heck mine hasn’t either, but it was around 97-98% out of the box and I thought it’d stabilize with use, reserting smc and a bunch of other stuff; but nope it’s apparently getting worse on paper. I can get 4-5 hours out of the machine with moderate use (safari, discord, some music here and there with youtube..)which is far from the advertised 11 hours (I know it’s unrealistic but at least gimme 7-8 hours :/). Sigh.

 

[monkeydax]

Lots could be affecting the amount of time you get out of it. Brightness, activity, apps running etc. You can worry about it but honestly nothing you can do about it unless it’s within the return window. Keep running it casually, if it goes below 80% then you have a case.

 

[collin_]

Yeah this is definitely odd. My mid 2019 15 inch (bought on launch) was 102% out of the box (?) and is at 98% now. It abruptly dropped from 102 to 98 over the course of a couple days like a month after I got it and it hasn't lost any capacity since. I would definitely worried/confused if I was in your situation.

Apple isn't going to do anything unless it drops below 80% capacity before your 1-year warranty or AppleCare expires. If it does, they will replace the battery for free. So... I guess you're fine. I would just keep an eye on it.

Maybe your MBP was exposed to a lot of heat in transit or something. Or maybe the capacity it's reporting isn't even correct. I would calibrate the battery if I were you.

 

[khalitzy]

Yeah this is definitely odd. My mid 2019 15 inch (bought on launch) was 102% out of the box (?) and is at 98% now. It abruptly dropped from 102 to 98 over the course of a couple days like a month after I got it and it hasn't lost any capacity since. I would definitely worried/confused if I was in your situation.

Apple isn't going to do anything unless it drops below 80% capacity before your 1-year warranty or AppleCare expires. If it does, they will replace the battery for free. So... I guess you're fine. I would just keep an eye on it.

Maybe your MBP was exposed to a lot of heat in transit or something. Or maybe the capacity it's reporting isn't even correct. I would calibrate the battery if I were you.

I calibrated it multiple times... I’ll keep an eye out on it. Thanks..

 

[elite953]

Try one more thing, keep it connected to macbook charger overnight for like 10 hours and see if it helps.

 

[Steve686]

I wonder if Apple "throttles" the battery so it can't charge past max capacity like past batteries in my MBPs have?

To keep them from swelling rampantly?

 

[khalitzy]

Try one more thing, keep it connected to macbook charger overnight for like 10 hours and see if it helps.

done that multiple times to no avail unfortunately

 

[elite953]

done that multiple times to no avail unfortunately

its better you take it to apple store and see what they say

 

[aakshey]

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread.

Since I’ve got multiple paid/free replacements across several continents and several category of Apple products, I consider myself an expert on this subject.

1. Apple doesn’t use Coconut Battery. Their internal diagnostic result has near 0 correlation with Coconut battery. However, Coconut battery is way more accurate than any tool Apple will ever use. What I’ve seen is as battery health degrades below 100%, it actually shows a far higher figure than the real health. That’s why you only get 5 hrs with 93% health. Whereas a truly healthy brand new battery might have given you 7-8 hrs.

2. If their internal tool says you’ve lost 7% in 32 cycles, there is a 80%+ chance they will replace your battery and/or device as long as it’s still under warranty. Such a situation falls under exceptional circumstances, and if you get the right genius at Apple, they will oblige. You might need to try more than once though.

3. Keeping 2 in mind, this is 100% a reason to be worried and this is far from normal. I won’t get into the specifics, but in most cases Apple devices last the longest time on the percentage they were out of the box. If not, they stabilise quick. Even though real world usage will keep decreasing. But that’s another point. Anyway, you should be worried. And if you contact Apple enough times and properly, they are very likely to change your battery or device.

4. Do buy AC+ but if you can. There is a very high chance it will fall below 80% within 3 years. But it definitely won’t within 12 months. This is your last resort.

5. Even if Apple does give you a new 100% health battery, you’ll be back to 5 hour battery life in 3-6 months tops. This is how fast MB/iPad batteries degrade. iPhone batteries are built to a far higher spec no matter what you’ve read or been fed by everybody around you.

 

[khalitzy]

There is a lot of misinformation in this thread.

Since I’ve got multiple paid/free replacements across several continents and several category of Apple products, I consider myself an expert on this subject.

1. Apple doesn’t use Coconut Battery. Their internal diagnostic result has near 0 correlation with Coconut battery. However, Coconut battery is way more accurate than any tool Apple will ever use. What I’ve seen is as battery health degrades below 100%, it actually shows a far higher figure than the real health. That’s why you only get 5 hrs with 93% health. Whereas a truly healthy brand new battery might have given you 7-8 hrs.

2. If their internal tool says you’ve lost 7% in 32 cycles, there is a 80%+ chance they will replace your battery and/or device as long as it’s still under warranty. Such a situation falls under exceptional circumstances, and if you get the right genius at Apple, they will oblige. You might need to try more than once though.

3. Keeping 2 in mind, this is 100% a reason to be worried and this is far from normal. I won’t get into the specifics, but in most cases Apple devices last the longest time on the percentage they were out of the box. If not, they stabilise quick. Even though real world usage will keep decreasing. But that’s another point. Anyway, you should be worried. And if you contact Apple enough times and properly, they are very likely to change your battery or device.

4. Do buy AC+ but if you can. There is a very high chance it will fall below 80% within 3 years. But it definitely won’t within 12 months. This is your last resort.

5. Even if Apple does give you a new 100% health battery, you’ll be back to 5 hour battery life in 3-6 months tops. This is how fast MB/iPad batteries degrade. iPhone batteries are built to a far higher spec no matter what you’ve read or been fed by everybody around you.

How is coconut battery more accurate than apple’s internal testing tools? I took it to an apple service provider a couple of weeks ago, since we don’t have apple stores where I live, they ran a diagnostic test and it showed the battery as 97% at the time coconut battery was showing 95-96% and told me it was normal :/ and that I shouldn’t be worrying, but you know even you think it isn’t normal so.... I don’t think I can get it replaced here at all. Anyway thanks for the detailed response :/.