iFixit: iPhone XS Has 'Notched' Battery and iPhone XS Max Has Apple-Designed Power Management Chip [Updated]

[kironin]

A smaller battery in the XS than in the X --- Tim Cook you MFAH!

"Apple’s filing with TENAA for the iPhone XR reveals it has a 2,942 mAh battery. That’s 9% larger in a phone with a display that’s just 5% bigger. And predictably, the iPhone XR’s battery life beats the iPhone XS hands-down. Not bad for a device which costs $250 less."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2018/09/20/apple-iphone-xs-max-xr-upgrade-battery-life-price-release-date-cost/

On its [URL='https://www.apple.com/lae/iphone/compare/']official specs page, Apple says the iPhone XS will last just “30 minutes longer” than the mediocre battery life of the iPhone X but look closely and you’ll notice that not only are most specs identical, but talk time on the iPhone XS has actually decreased an hour.[/URL]

 

[caranddriver]

Well confirmed that Intel modem used and Qualcomm already has stated that. Hopefully, Intel has improved the LTE signal reception of their product.

 

[UhFive]

I’d really like to see a comparison of the true dual sim version and this eSim one...is it a matter of hardware differences or what?

 

[Dougie Jones]

The teardown does not indicate whether the gigabit-class LTE modems in the latest iPhones are supplied by Intel and/or Qualcomm.

Are you sure?

Intel 9955 J825YD05 10PSV (XS) and 9955 X816YD5R P10PHV (XS Max) modems

• Sorry, Qualcomm fans.

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone+XS++and+XS+Max+Teardown/113021?#s216148

 

[MoreRumors?]

Well confirmed that Intel modem used and Qualcomm already has stated that. Hopefully, Intel has improved the LTE signal reception of their product.

I hope Xs will soon be used to test the Gigabit LTE networks and what we can expect out of both. There is limited information on where and when the Gigabit LTE will be available.

It doesn't matter how Apple design the battery as long as it last longer between charge, it has a longer life span and it doesn't expand causing internal damage.

 

[cmaier]

Yes but they no longer specify it in their tech specs page, and they really should. It’s for their benefit.
[doublepost=1537550250][/doublepost]
Yup, it’s not in the tech specs page. Don’t see why they stopped specifying pixel size, either.

People who understand the difference between number of pixels and the size of the pixels, and who understand why you want bigger pixels, already know. It's been posted on every photography blog and website.

 

[Andres Cantu]

People who understand the difference between number of pixels and the size of the pixels, and who understand why you want bigger pixels, already know. It's been posted on every photography blog and website.

I see your point, but I still think having that in their specs page can't hurt anybody.

 

[Defthand]

It will be interesting to see if the various “batterygate” class action discoveries find that Dialog Semiconductor’s power management chips—rather than the battery itself—are responsible for the power deficiencies experienced in earlier phones.

 

[Junipr]

I believe this is the notch ifixit is talking about.

Would've made way more sense to include this graphic in the article

 

[Gudi]

Yes but they no longer specify it in their tech specs page, and they really should. It’s for their benefit.
[doublepost=1537550250][/doublepost]Yup, it’s not in the tech specs page. Don’t see why they stopped specifying pixel size, either.

Because once customers have learned that it’s the GHz which makes a computer fast, you’ve started yourself a spec-race into a dead end. Individual pixel size was already a countermeasure to get people off the megapixel craze. Now Apple is shifting focus again to a twice as fast sensor speed as a reason why one camera is better than another. The result is a well-rounded product which isn’t overdesigned in one aspect and ignores all the others.

 

[dilbert99]

That is not sensor size, that is pixel size

Photosite size is a better measure of light capturing capability than sensor size. Think about the gaps between photosites that do not collect light.

I'm assuming so that you can make a comparison to other sensor sizes?
[doublepost=1537619276][/doublepost]

Because once customers have learned that it’s the GHz which makes a computer fast, you’ve started yourself a spec-race into a dead end. Individual pixel size was already a countermeasure to get people off the megapixel craze. Now Apple is shifting focus again to a twice as fast sensor speed as a reason why one camera is better than another. The result is a well-rounded product which isn’t overdesigned in one aspect and ignores all the others.

Twice as fast sensor means nothing it doesn't tell you how much light it captures, it doesn't tell you the iso and so on. Better measure is how it affects picture taking performance.

 

[Gudi]

Twice as fast sensor means nothing it doesn't tell you how much light it captures, it doesn't tell you the iso and so on. Better measure is how it affects picture taking performance.

Faster sensor means even more data input for computational photography. They explained it during the keynote, why didn’t you pay attention? Those sharp photos of flying waterdrops are only possible, because of the sheer amount of computation in a split second.

 

[jona2125]

Photosite size is a better measure of light capturing capability than sensor size. Think about the gaps between photosites that do not collect light.

I never said anything about light capturing capability but I don't disagree, all I said was that responding to someone talking about Apple not disclosing the size of the new sensor (25mm²) with the size of the pixels is misleading to anyone who might take that info as an answer. Also to add, and repeat, what was explained earlier, Apple did increase the size of the sensor itself as well which was obvious due to keeping 12MP with increased pixel sizes makes the sensor bigger itself as well to accommodate enough pixels for that output.

 

[beq]

Was secretly hoping that it might have SIM pin readers above and below the SIM tray like the Chinese model, and we’d just have to get the back-to-back dual-SIM tray as an aftermarket part in order to activate the second nano-SIM

Anyways... any update when the big 3 U.S. carriers will support iPhone eSIM?

 

[jona2125]

Was secretly hoping that it might have SIM pin readers above and below the SIM tray like the Chinese model, and we’d just have to get the back-to-back dual-SIM tray as an aftermarket part in order to activate the second nano-SIM

Anyways... any update when the big 3 U.S. carriers will support iPhone eSIM?

I believe AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile all support it

 

[dilbert99]

I never said anything about light capturing capability but I don't disagree, all I said was that responding to someone talking about Apple not disclosing the size of the new sensor (25mm²) with the size of the pixels is misleading to anyone who might take that info as an answer. Also to add, and repeat, what was explained earlier, Apple did increase the size of the sensor itself as well which was obvious due to keeping 12MP with increased pixel sizes makes the sensor bigger itself as well to accommodate enough pixels for that output.

There are a lot of things that Apple no longer tells you the stats for such as battery size and ram and that is a sad state of affairs.
[doublepost=1537666738][/doublepost]

Faster sensor means even more data input for computational photography. They explained it during the keynote, why didn’t you pay attention? Those sharp photos of flying waterdrops are only possible, because of the sheer amount of computation in a split second.

Hard to tell if you were being serious or sarcastic.
Why would I sit through 2 hours of verbal diarrhea of beautiful/gorgeous, the best we have ever made in what can only be described as half normal talking speed. If Tim Cook/Ive and co just sped up their speech a little the show would be over in half the time. I used to watch them an drool, but I lost my rose coloured glasses years ago.

People do better with facts and outcomes. To stop motion you quote the shutter speed, to quote how much light gets in you quote the aperture and so on. You don't quote sensor speed alone.

Then you get to battery life, 30 minutes more than X, gee, just tell me how many hours of typical use and tell me the size of the battery. Give me more facts, not less.

 

[Gudi]

Why would I sit through 2 hours of verbal diarrhea ... yadda yadda yadda. Give me more facts, not less.

The 2 hour keynote is the primary source of facts about new products, everything else is just a reiteration of a subset of those facts. I’m sorry your lazy ass isn’t willing to obtain information from more than one source. As a result you must suffer from unfulfilled curiosity and I’m fine with that. No more facts for you!

 

[dilbert99]

The 2 hour keynote is the primary source of facts about new products, everything else is just a reiteration of a subset of those facts. I’m sorry your lazy ass isn’t willing to obtain information from more than one source. As a result you must suffer from unfulfilled curiosity and I’m fine with that. No more facts for you!

If you are going to respond to someone, please have the courtesy of actually using facts or at least have a civil dialogue.
I am not going to stoop to your level so sorry will not engage in further dialogue with you.

 

[Gudi]

I am not going to stoop to your level so sorry will not engage in further dialogue with you.

As if I want to talk to someone, who can’t be bothered to watch the keynote, about what was presented at the keynote. At least try to get some knowledge yourself before you demand to be engaged in a civil dialogue.

 

[limo79]

A smaller battery in the XS than in the X --- Tim Cook you MFAH!

Since new SoC consume less energy they can keep battery capacity under similar amount. Of course consumers expect much larger battery capacity but this is Apple: optimized design in case of hardware/software and BOM cost. Every cent cost saving means a profit for Apple and shareholders.
[doublepost=1537692797][/doublepost]

It will be interesting to see if the various “batterygate” class action discoveries find that Dialog Semiconductor’s power management chips—rather than the battery itself—are responsible for the power deficiencies experienced in earlier phones.

Assuming that all Li-Ion base on similar technology this might be true especially that competitors products do not have any statements that smartphone might be shut off under high peak load or about decreased performance when battery is 80% or 60% (still fine capacity). From the other point of view Dialog chips possibly were used by other manufacturers so maybe key is in software management and batteries. In my opinion Apple pouch batteries have poor reliability with tendency to swollen (they are manufactured by no name chinese suppliers). Samsung use also pouch cells in ultrabooks but for example they use a plastic case to limit eventual case deformation. Toshiba batteries based on AA cells are much better. Also in HP business laptops even standard batteries have superior endurance. Most of them use japanese suppliers cells eg. Sanyo.

 

[dilbert99]

As if I want to talk to someone, who can’t be bothered to watch the keynote, about what was presented at the keynote. At least try to get some knowledge yourself before you demand to be engaged in a civil dialogue.

eh?
[doublepost=1537694181][/doublepost]

As if I want to talk to someone, who can’t be bothered to watch the keynote, about what was presented at the keynote. At least try to get some knowledge yourself before you demand to be engaged in a civil dialogue.

Ok i'll bite, So are you saying that I can only get facts from Apple, I cannot go to a third party and watch the condensed version? Or in other words, politicians have to go right to the source - scientific journals and understand things themselves rather than going to the scientific advisory board.

How about answering this question - Can I watch 1080p youtube/netflix content on the iPhone XR?

 

[Abazigal]

It will be interesting to see if the various “batterygate” class action discoveries find that Dialog Semiconductor’s power management chips—rather than the battery itself—are responsible for the power deficiencies experienced in earlier phones.

I won’t say the chips are responsible for throttlegate, but it does seem the custom power management chips were intended to be an answer to said issue. Between this and the larger batteries, throttlegate shouldn’t be an issue for most users.

 

[dblissmn]

That XS Max is absolutely going to last longer between battery replacements. With two separate packs it opens up a lot of possibilities for power management, quite aside from avoiding the avant-garde design on the standard size XS battery. Anyone want to bet that six months down the road we see some weird battery swelling issues on the standard XS? At best, it will be a beta-test situation on that phone, whereas the XS Max gets mature technology derived from their retina laptops.

 

[Defthand]

Assuming that all Li-Ion base on similar technology this might be true especially that competitors products do not have any statements that smartphone might be shut off under high peak load or about decreased performance when battery is 80% or 60% (still fine capacity). From the other point of view Dialog chips possibly were used by other manufacturers so maybe key is in software management and batteries. In my opinion Apple pouch batteries have poor reliability with tendency to swollen (they are manufactured by no name chinese suppliers). Samsung use also pouch cells in ultrabooks but for example they use a plastic case to limit eventual case deformation. Toshiba batteries based on AA cells are much better. Also in HP business laptops even standard batteries have superior endurance. Most of them use japanese suppliers cells eg. Sanyo.

Yours is a logical observation. I replaced my iPhone 6S's battery after an Apple Store deemed it fine (and Apple announced its discounted battery offer a couple weeks later). I purchased my battery from iFixit. It restored my phone's Geekbench scores to those advertised when the phone was new. Oddly, the new Battery Health monitoring feature in iOS 11 reported that the battery needed to be serviced. I ignored it. The phone worked satisfactorily until recently while I was using the iOS 12 beta. It was unable to report the battery's reserve charge accurately and would shut down prematurely. Eventually, it would not power on even while connected to a charger. I reported the problem to iFixit. They informed me that since iOS 11, others were reporting similar issues. Their conclusion was that Apple's software was prejudicing non-Apple batteries. In a separate post, I describe how the Apple Store where I was traveling, refused to install or sell me a battery for my out-of-warranty phone because of policies they couldn't reasonably explain. Apple sent me on my way with a bricked phone instead! iFixit to the rescue... their stellar customer service sent me another battery as a last resort to see if it might circumvent the phone's software. It did. And unsurprisingly, the Battery Health feature still reports that the battery needs to be serviced. (Note: the first replacement battery had no visible signs of deterioration. In hindsight, I probably could have fooled the software by simply disconnecting and reconnecting the existing battery).

I won’t say the chips are responsible for throttlegate, but it does seem the custom power management chips were intended to be an answer to said issue. Between this and the larger batteries, throttlegate shouldn’t be an issue for most users.

The software that throttles the phone when the battery is unable to meet peak power demands still exists. Some might argue that it is preferable to unexpected shutdowns. I would agree. But it was Apple's secrecy in the matter that I won't forgive. They were trying to create the illusion that their phones have the power efficiency advertised. "Throttlegate" or "Batterygate" will eventually fade from people's memory but a bigger concern remains: Apple's integrity. The company reluctantly acknowledges product flaws ("You're holding your phone wrong."} and failures that occur soon after the brief warranty. Apple only responds when they experience sufficient bad press.

I was a diehard fanboy for decades until Apple became the corporate behemoth that it used to criticize. When Apple transitioned from a visionary underdog to a street brand, it somehow shed its soul. I know from your past posts that you are an unabashed Apple apologist. You probably think that Apple's battery replacement offer was charitable. More likely it is posturing to cushion their image when the matter enters the courts. At $29, they're still covering their costs while bandaiding the actual flaw until affected customers move on to newer hardware.

 

[Tech198]

I believe this is the notch ifixit is talking about.

Its the 'notch' you can't see..

Very clever.. All you have to do is build one big cell.