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The Game 161

macrumors Nehalem
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
30,400
19,632
UK
Good numbers... but I don't buy that the 13 Pro Max only lasts 5% longer than the 13 Pro. The battery in the Pro Max is 40% larger than the Pro.
Guess it depends on one’s usage we all use our phones differently after all.
 

one more

macrumors 601
Aug 6, 2015
4,542
5,712
Earth
While testing, did they factor in power management differences between iOS 14 and iOS 15? I mean, did they test iPhones 12 and 13 running the same iOS variants?
 

xxray

macrumors 68040
Jul 27, 2013
3,077
9,298
While testing, did they factor in power management differences between iOS 14 and iOS 15? I mean, did they test iPhones 12 and 13 running the same iOS variants?
My guess is that they used the numbers from the iPhone 12 battery tests they did last year when the phone was released.
 

imp3rator

macrumors 6502a
Dec 25, 2019
534
467
Good numbers... but I don't buy that the 13 Pro Max only lasts 5% longer than the 13 Pro. The battery in the Pro Max is 40% larger than the Pro.
It's only "continuous web surfing over 5G cellular at 150 nits of screen brightness."

So bigger display eats more battery and results are close.
But calling with turned off display drains battery equaly so you can get 40% more call time than 13 Pro. Same for standby time..
 

JulianL

macrumors 68000
Feb 2, 2010
1,665
663
London, UK
Good numbers... but I don't buy that the 13 Pro Max only lasts 5% longer than the 13 Pro. The battery in the Pro Max is 40% larger than the Pro.

I agree with your conclusion, I suspect an error in the test done on the iPhone Pro Max (some condition not quite equal), but I'm not sure on your maths re 5% longer.

The test claims 12h16m for the 13 Pro max vs 10h53m for the 12 Pro Max. That's 736 minutes for the 13PM vs 653 minutes for the 12PM = 736/653 = 1.1271056 i.e. the 13 Pro Max in these tests is lasting 12.71% longer than the 12 Pro Max not 5% longer.

I've done the same minutes-to-minutes calculations for the others and for the iPhone 13 models vs the iPhone 12 models I get ...

Pro Max +12.71% vs last year's model (as calculated as detailed above)
Pro +28.57% vs last year's model
non-Pro 13 +25.35% vs last year's model
Mini +16.29% vs last year's models

The Mini is a lot smaller so battery space is more restricted so I suspect it will always struggle a bit vs the rest and I can accept that it only shows a year-on-year increase in the upper-teens percentage-wise vs the upper-twenties percent gains seen for the 13 and 13 Pro but I find that low-teens percentage gain for the 13 Pro Max vs those upper-twenties percent gains seen for the 13 and 13 Pro quite suspicious hence my agreeing with your concern/suspicion re the 13 Pro Max result.
 
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vseera

macrumors 6502
May 27, 2011
316
546
Yay! Go 13 Mini! I’m quite happy if these numbers are true - looks to be solidly placed in between the 12 and the 12 Pro!
 
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Risco

macrumors 68000
Jul 22, 2010
1,947
262
United Kingdom
First comprehensive comparison I have seen. Nice boost across the board.



iPhone 13 battery life results​

iModeliBattery life (hours:mins)
iPhone 13 Pro Max12:16
iPhone 12 Pro Max10:53
iPhone 13 Pro11:42
iPhone 12 Pro9:06
iPhone 1310:33
iPhone 128:25
iPhone 13 mini8:41
iPhone 12 mini7:28
Samsung Galaxy S219:53
Samsung Galaxy S21 Plus9:50
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra11:25
OnePlus 9 Pro12:48
 

one more

macrumors 601
Aug 6, 2015
4,542
5,712
Earth
My guess is that they used the numbers from the iPhone 12 battery tests they did last year when the phone was released.

What would be interesting then is to compare, say, iPhone 12 with iPhone 13 both running the same iOS 15. This will be more useful than comparing an iPhone 12 running iOS 14 with iPhone 13 running iOS 15, since the new software brought in its own benefits.
 

bluegt

macrumors 6502
Jul 3, 2015
359
367
I agree with your conclusion, I suspect an error in the test done on the iPhone Pro Max (some condition not quite equal), but I'm not sure on your maths re 5% longer.

The test claims 12h16m for the 13 Pro max vs 10h53m for the 12 Pro Max. That's 736 minutes for the 13PM vs 653 minutes for the 12PM = 736/653 = 1.1271056 i.e. the 13 Pro Max in these tests is lasting 12.71% longer than the 12 Pro Max not 5% longer.

I've done the same minutes-to-minutes calculations for the others and for the iPhone 13 models vs the iPhone 12 models I get ...

Pro Max +12.71% vs last year's model (as calculated as detailed above)
Pro +28.57% vs last year's model
non-Pro 13 +25.35% vs last year's model
Mini +16.29% vs last year's models

The Mini is a lot smaller so battery space is more restricted so I suspect it will always struggle a bit vs the rest and I can accept that it only shows a year-on-year increase in the upper-teens percentage-wise vs the upper-twenties percent gains seen for the 13 and 13 Pro but I find that low-teens percentage gain for the 13 Pro Max vs those upper-twenties percent gains seen for the 13 and 13 Pro quite suspicious hence my agreeing with your concern/suspicion re the 13 Pro Max result.

Good analysis! To clarify I was comparing the 13 Pro Max vs 13 Pro (not the 12 Pro Max).

Battery Test: 736 Minutes vs 702 Minutes (+4.8%)
Battery Size: 16.75Wh vs 11.97Wh (+39.9%)

A larger screen on the Max would certainly consume more power but I am surprised by just how much (especially given the ProMotion display should optimize battery usage while browsing). The reviewer also set the screen at a relatively low 150 nits so this would reduce the additional drain caused by the larger screen.
 

Taz Mangus

macrumors 604
Mar 10, 2011
7,815
3,504
Battery sizes of all the phones tested. Apple did a really great job this year with the iPhone 13. These phones are impressive with their battery life and even with a 120Hz display on the Pro models. The LTPO display helps a great deal in this regard. Just look at the difference in battery life between the 13 and the 13 Pro.

Screen Shot 2021-09-22 at 5.39.12 PM.png
 

Natrium

macrumors regular
Aug 7, 2021
125
246
The iPhone 12 had less battery life than the iPhone 11. So let’s put things in perspective and compare the iPhone 13 with the iPhone 11, using the tests done by the website OP is referring to.

iPhone Pro Max
13: 736 minutes
11: 714 minutes
+3%

iPhone Pro
13: 702 minutes
11: 624 minutes
+12,5%

iPhone
13: 633 minutes
11: 676 minutes
-6% (minus)

In conclusion, the iPhone 13 battery life for web surfing, which is what the website tested, is not as impressive when compared to the iPhone 11. Plus, probably a significant portion of the improved battery life is due to improved software (iOS 15 vs 13). It would be interesting to see the same test repeated with iOS 15 on the iPhone 11.

iPhone 13 test: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-13-battery-life-tested-all-four-models-compared

iPhone 11 test: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-11-battery-life
 
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dmx

macrumors 6502a
Oct 25, 2008
731
1,507
The iPhone 12 had less battery life than the iPhone 11. So let’s put things in perspective and compare the iPhone 13 with the iPhone 11, using the tests done by the website OP is referring to.

iPhone Pro Max
13: 736 minutes
11: 714 minutes
+3%

iPhone Pro
13: 702 minutes
11: 624 minutes
+12,5%

iPhone
13: 633 minutes
11: 676 minutes
-6% (minus)

In conclusion, the iPhone 13 battery life for web surfing, which is what the website tested, is not as impressive when compared to the iPhone 11. Plus, probably a significant portion of the improved battery life is due to improved software (iOS 15 vs 13). It would be interesting to see the same test repeated with iOS 15 on the iPhone 11.

iPhone 13 test: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-13-battery-life-tested-all-four-models-compared

iPhone 11 test: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/iphone-11-battery-life

good point. Of course, all these tests were run with LTE while 13 series was with 5G. Would be interesting to see how 13 series does with 5G off.
 
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