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iPhone 13 Pro Max drove 346 miles to pick up 13 Pro Max from nearest Apple Store that had it... on the way back, the phone used up 80% battery connected to CarPlay nav?

B

beerseagulls

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 18, 2021
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yesterday, I ended up driving 346 miles to the nearest Apple Store that had the 13 Pro Max 256gb in gold.

I ended up taking advantage of my car dealer.... dropped off my car for the routine 10,000-mile service. As usual, they gave me a loaner... unfortunately, this time they only has a small SUV, a BMW X3. The only other car available was a Honda Civic.(less than 10 miles, since they just added it as a loaner this week) I knew nothing about Hondas, so I took the Bimmer.

Anyway... the trip was uneventful and I got to the Apple Store an hour earlier than the appointment. They didn't care and just gave me a little Apple Store bag and tucked the 13 Pro Max inside. They forgot to check my ID... or does Apple already know the faces of EVERY iPhone customer?

Anyway, I immediately got back into the X3 and connected the new 13 Pro Max via CarPlay. Since the only cable in the box was the usual USB-C to Lightning cable, I had no way to connect it to charge. Fortunately, the phone had almost 80% of battery when I shoved the SIM card inside and powered it on. After it downloaded some stuff and updated, I set my destination via CarPlay on the car's screen and got on the interstate in a jiffy. It showed 3 hours and 50 minutes.

By the time I stopped for gas an hour later, I noticed that the battery had gone down to 45%. While I was waiting in line to pay for some munchies and drinks inside the gas station, I noticed that they had a bunch of USB-C lighter adapters for sale on the counter... but I didn't want to risk killing a $1300 new iPhone with a cheap-looking no-name $1.99 USB-C lighter adapter. :)

The phone was left in the center console and the screen was never one. I was playing YouTube Music during the drive. The navigation via Apple Maps was also running on the X3's screen.

By the time I pulled into the dealer's parking lot, the 13 Pro Max was down to 11% battery life. I dropped off the loaner and went to pay for the service. I picked up my own car and plugged the phone in to charge again.

Could YouTube Music and Apple Maps really use up that much battery (80% down to 11%) with the phone's own screen being off during the whole 4-hour trip?
 
GPS plus the fact that it’s busy doing all the optimization stuff in the background. Also the fact that it wasn’t charging probably made it more noticeable.
My 13 Pro took 2-3 days to normalize.
 
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Being in a car during the daytime is tough on a phone because it forces the screen to 100% brightness. And I think sunlight forces even more nits than simply sliding to max. The new 13 Pro iPhones also have a brighter screen than any iPhone ever.
 
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KeepCalmPeople said:
I’m surprised the X3 didn't have wireless charging if it had wireless CarPlay.
Click to expand...

it was a loaner.... I didn't see anything charging pad in the X3's console or in the armrest.... when I got in, I just saw that the screen had Carplay, so I connected my iPhone SE(2016) to it. On the way back, I connected the new iPhone 13 Pro Max to it.

it didn't occur to me that not all CarPlay were wirelessly connected....

Edit: I just looked it up... yes, I definitely did not see the wireless charger which should have been in the center console. Apparently that's an extra-cost option which the loaner X3 didn't have. :)
 
perezr10 said:
Being in a car during the daytime is tough on a phone because it forces the screen to 100% brightness. And I think sunlight forces even more nits than simply sliding to max. The new 13 Pro iPhones also have a brighter screen than any iPhone ever.
Click to expand...


When it was connected to the BMW's factory radio screen via CarPlay, the iPhone SE(2016) and iPhone 13 Pro Max both had their screen completely off during the whole trip. The only time the screen was on was when I was connecting to the CarPlay, which only took a couple of minutes.
 
cousintim said:
Note to dealer: Add beerseagulls to "No Loan Car" list.
Click to expand...

They don't care... in fact, they encourage it... I chatted with the sales manager not too long ago. She said that they want customers to drive the loaners as much as possible... some customers even request to turn the 1-day loaner into 2-day or even the whole week. based on their experience, a lot of people end up buying the same model at a later date.(when they need a new car or when their existing lease ends)

I think she's right... up until yesterday, I would never have considered getting a BMW X3 because my last two small SUVs were both made by Lexus. Now I'm almost sold on the X3... Like how I became addicted to that shrimp wonton thing at Costco after trying the samples one too many times.

Of course, I usually don't take loaners because I really don't like driving cars that other people have sat in previously, so I usually just take their shuttle van home.(which, oddly enough, is a Mercedes Srpinter van that seats 10 or 11). Yes, I'm a little OCD.... even before the pandemic, I use disinfecting wipes on every surface whenever I get into a loaner or rental car...(and I do mean EVERY surface, even the inside of glove boxes and the remote keyfobs)
 
beerseagulls said:
They don't care... in fact, they encourage it... I chatted with the sales manager not too long ago. She said that they want customers to drive the loaners as much as possible... some customers even request to turn the 1-day loaner into 2-day or even the whole week. based on their experience, a lot of people end up buying the same model at a later date.(when they need a new car or when their existing lease ends)

I think she's right... up until yesterday, I would never have considered getting a BMW X3 because my last two small SUVs were both made by Lexus. Now I'm almost sold on the X3... Like how I became addicted to that shrimp wonton thing at Costco after trying the samples one too many times.

Of course, I usually don't take loaners because I really don't like driving cars that other people have sat in previously, so I usually just take their shuttle van home.(which, oddly enough, is a Mercedes Srpinter van that seats 10 or 11). Yes, I'm a little OCD.... even before the pandemic, I use disinfecting wipes on every surface whenever I get into a loaner or rental car...(and I do mean EVERY surface, even the inside of glove boxes and the remote keyfobs)
Click to expand...
Not to go off topic, but I drove Porsche for many years (12 years, 5 different models). The dealer always gave you a better model as a loaner when you brought your car in for service. I must say it was a very good sales tactic.
 
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aue123 said:
im more curious how you maintained 86 mph for 4 hours ..
Click to expand...

I'm not confirming or denying anything... but in this part of the state, I've never seen anybody stay under 85mph...

although.. I had the cruise control set at [undisclosed]mph and was in the middle of a pack of cars/SUVs most of the way.
 
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xraydoc said:
Not to go off topic, but I drove Porsche for many years (12 years, 5 different models). The dealer always gave you a better model as a loaner when you brought your car in for service. I must say it was a very good sales tactic.
Click to expand...

When I got in the X3, I was thinking to myself "oh great, they gave me a stinking old car with 28,000 miles" but then I noticed that the sticker near the door showed that it was manufactured less than 12 months ago. by my calculation, that meant it was driven almost 160 miles per day, every single day since it was manufactured. :(

mileage.jpg
 
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xraydoc said:
I’m more amazed that OP would drive 350 miles for a phone.
ok, actually I’m not. I’d probably be tempted to do the same thing for something I wanted badly.
Click to expand...


well... I had two choices.

wait for my order to ship around the expected delivery date of November 8. (probably earlier, but hard to say)

I opted for the other option which was the "express shipping"(going to the only Apple Store that had the 13 Pro Max 256gb available for pick up) It saved me 30 days of waiting. :)
 
Phone Junky said:
All I can say is you really wanted that phone bad.
Click to expand...

not really... I just didn't want to wait 30 days. (until my order's expected delivery date of November 8)

also, I basically already paid for it. I had around $1400 in Apple Account Balance(a combination of gift cards and trade-in credit). If I wait 30 days, that $1400 will just be sitting around doing nothing. :)
 
Good read. Indeed the phone lost battery quick because of all the background stuff. Got my 13MP on 9/24. Took 1-2 days to normalize. Today I’m getting insane battery life. I use wireless car play in my 21’ Volvo XC90 on a daily basis. This doesn’t affect my battery at all. Your battery life should normalize next coming days. My optimized charging just kicked into effect 2 nights ago. Give it time. It will get better. Also major props to you for making this a road trip in acquiring your new iPhone. That’s what Apple is all about. The community they’ve built is like none other.
 
xraydoc said:
Not to go off topic, but I drove Porsche for many years (12 years, 5 different models). The dealer always gave you a better model as a loaner when you brought your car in for service. I must say it was a very good sales tactic.
Click to expand...
Oh yea! I usually get an M model vehicle, last was an X3M… they know I’m dying to get back into a real ///M car! Not that a M340 is a slouch! 😂😂
 
sjperformance said:
Good read. Indeed the phone lost battery quick because of all the background stuff. Got my 13MP on 9/24. Took 1-2 days to normalize. Today I’m getting insane battery life. I use wireless car play in my 21’ Volvo XC90 on a daily basis. This doesn’t affect my battery at all. Your battery life should normalize next coming days. My optimized charging just kicked into effect 2 nights ago. Give it time. It will get better. Also major props to you for making this a road trip in acquiring your new iPhone. That’s what Apple is all about. The community they’ve built is like none other.
Click to expand...

you gave me too much credit..... I just didn't want to wait 30 days for my iPhone to be delivered. (November 8) :)

several hours of driving on a lovely sunny day was much better than 30 days of waiting, wouldn't you agree? :)
 
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