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Battery life on 18.4 iPhone 13 mini
- Thread starter SpAwN_BG
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Sure. They do. But since original iOS versions are very efficient, the impact is diminished because original iOS versions don’t demand those voltage spikes from degraded batteries. Because their power requirements do not overpower both processors and batteries.
Physics.
My mini runs superbly on 18.4 . . . its functionality magically became subjectively better (than the great it was, before)!
Sequoia 15.4, on the gripping-hand, is a little disappointing.
Original versions are no better or worse depending on the version. Some iOS version launch day releases were worse, and help had to fix issues. I know folks who baby sit batteries with out updating os and being obsessive with charging. They had their battery replaced 6 months ago, my launch day 13 PM battery is going strong. But I fully expect my phone to get worse in next 6 months.
I recently replaced 4 year old Apple Watch S6, the replacement S6 is many times better than the one replaced because of newer battery.
I upgraded to 18.4 and have found the battery life (on 85% now) to be subjectively better than on any other 18.x iteration. I'm also saying that with going from an LTE network to permanently using 5G. Go for it.
I also understand your concerns as I found my previous SE OG to severely regress with every iOS update, with a newly replaced battery even. Started off fine with iOS 17.x or 16.x or etc and it was always the incremental updates that lost its battery life, together with running hotter. Such a shame as on its second battery it's no longer really usable.
Edit: I do keep my laptops and phones quite a long time.
I also understand your concerns as I found my previous SE OG to severely regress with every iOS update, with a newly replaced battery even. Started off fine with iOS 17.x or 16.x or etc and it was always the incremental updates that lost its battery life, together with running hotter. Such a shame as on its second battery it's no longer really usable.
Edit: I do keep my laptops and phones quite a long time.
That's correct. My experience sounds similar to that of @splifingate (comment #28) in this thread. And as mentioned, Ive moved to permanent 5G use (from LTE only) just prior to the update.
I‘m going to wait a bit, maybe for 18.4.x release.
It could be your iPhone 13 mini would have been even better on 18.3.2 if you‘ve switched to 5G prior updating to 18.4
Now it is not clear if this switch from LTE to 5G made the battery life better or the iOS 18.4 itself…
It could be your iPhone 13 mini would have been even better on 18.3.2 if you‘ve switched to 5G prior updating to 18.4
Now it is not clear if this switch from LTE to 5G made the battery life better or the iOS 18.4 itself…
Generally 5G will consume more power than 4G, rather than the other way around. I've changed carriers also. I was pleasantly surprised about the longer battery life as my previous experience has been the opposite. Off course moving from 18.4 to 18.4.x, all bets are off (as I've seen with my OG SE).I‘m going to wait a bit, maybe for 18.4.x release.
It could be your iPhone 13 mini would have been even better on 18.3.2 if you‘ve switched to 5G prior updating to 18.4
Now it is not clear if this switch from LTE to 5G made the battery life better or the iOS 18.4 itself…
This is nonsense. A load (the phone) cannot demand a voltage spike from a battery. It can demand more current by increasing the load, which on a degraded battery can lead to a sudden drop in voltage which sometimes causes to the phone to shut off. This is the issue Apple were trying to mitigate with the throttling on devices with degraded batteries.
Also x.0 releases are notorious for being crappy. Usually the x.1 release has all the fixes for the bugs that they didn’t have time to fixed before release day or cropped up when the software got installed on millions of devices.
I expressed it incorrectly, but the point remains: updated iOS versions increase demand, worsening battery life.
Nonsense on point releases, battery life never recovers to the original iOS version’s extent. Grab an iPhone Xʀ on iOS 18 and give me the 18 hours 32 minutes of screen-on time I get on iOS 12. You can’t.
Oh yes, so (unfortunately) true. That's why for me the improvement to 18.4 came out of left field, going by previous experience.
I find that the distance from the cellular 'tower' defines the reach, which determines the power-effort needed to communicate with said 'tower'.
I'm in the #6 Urban in the USofA, and (frustratingly (VZ)) I still find that my iPhone is grasping at straw-pipes.
In my home--a Residence that is 5km distant from the axis of said sixth-largest Metropolitan Area ('Merka)--I still get only two-bars of 5G 🤷♂️
They are Good Bars, and my UL/DL pipe is decent, but . . . if it were not for the fact that I have 1G fibre WIFI here at-home, my little 13-mini would probably suffer increased battery-loss.
When Everyone went 5G, I truly noticed the air-wave competition...
The Expectations are High, for me, now . . . I am dreading, er, 18.4.3 ;(
Dare I say that how much an individual taxes their battery-subsystem is what (ultimately) determines the lifespan of the battery, itself.
Subjectively, I've never found that "newer" == "worse".
Each OS Release has it's quills; some have been *cough* moar prickly than others
I stand by my assertion on point releases. I’ve had a point release on dramatically improve battery life on my AW.
There is a grain of truth in what you’re saying but you present it so badly. Apple writes iOS for the devices that are current. (Ones they want to sell you now) Those devices run a more powerful and more efficient SOC than previous generation devices. So a previous generation device has to work harder (on that iOS) to do everything basic housekeeping tasks. They have to find a compromise where the older devices run at a tolerable speed without totally tanking the battery. If they throttle old devices to get better battery life it’s a conspiracy and people complain. If they don’t and devices eat battery people complain. If they drop features from older devices people complain. It’s a no win scenario so they pick a compromise of all of those solutions.
You loose some performance, some features and some battery life. Personally I just accept the phones good for a couple of years and flip it, but I understand people’s desire to keep the mini form factor. It’s a shame it didn’t sell well enough for Apple to keep making it.
Not just that. When I ran 2 esims from 2 separate providers concurrently for testing, I couldn't believe the signal strength difference. My original company X (LTE only) changed to 5G for all customers free of charge. It's when I noticed at work having long data loading, failing, no bars even for a call. Hmm..previously my reception was quite usable. It turned out (unaware to customer) that X had hardly even built out their own 5G network. On LTE previously they were cooperating with company Y (was ok) but then changed to company Z for LTE instead, that was known for much ado but very poor reception...everywhere. Lots and lots of variables that's outside the knowledge of customers even.
It's good enough 99% of the time. In the few cases that battery life is not sufficient (like extended traveling), it's not a fluke that Apple's sadly discontinued MagSafe battery pack is a perfect fit for the 13 Mini and the 13 Mini alone.
Exactly why I bough both at the same time for a cross hemispherical flight.
Do you upgrade every year?Dare I say that how much an individual taxes their battery-subsystem is what (ultimately) determines the lifespan of the battery, itself.
Subjectively, I've never found that "newer" == "worse".
Each OS Release has it's quills; some have been *cough* moar prickly than others
Of course that the usage pattern is the key, but with the same usage pattern, battery life WILL plummet if you update far enough.
This is the truth! But how is any of this my fault? And honestly… why should I understand this position? Apple writes iOS for devices that are current, fine. But if you’re going to kill older iOS devices with this garbage either let me downgrade or do better. How is my position unreasonable?
One alternative: optimize new iOS versions better! Why does everything have to be a compromise? After all, when the device was new you didn’t need to throttle it… it just worked. Those basic housekeeping tasks, make them more efficient.
Apple’s current “general compromise” is garbage. Devices end with keyboard lag, 40-50% of the battery life vs original iOS versions, they are far less responsive, they crash when you push them a little, etc.
You can’t optimize? Allow downgrading without exceptions. Give me a million warning about how I’m compromising security. Say you aren’t responsible. But let me. Because devices are irreversibly turned into garbage just because you can’t optimize better and you dislike the alternative: allowing downgrading with no strings attached.
The current situation is all-around bad: devices have worse performance, worse battery life, and lack features vs current devices. Lose-lose-lose for the user, and users can’t even go back because Apple won’t let them.
Don’t get me wrong: I love Apple devices. That’s why I keep buying them. But I’ve found my little comfortable spot: I buy them and I never update them. So they work perfectly. This approach, with all of its drawbacks, works for me. You won’t listen to me complain about performance or battery life (unless Apple forces me to update, which has happened twice due to a bug), but that notwithstanding, I can maintain my devices. In spite of the drawbacks (that I try to circumvent as best I can), this works for me. But so many devices are trash because they pushed too far. It’s sad that people have no recourse.
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