iPhone 16/Plus iPhone 16 Plus - how have you liked the battery?

[thecautioners]

Hey! We have a new 16 Plus in the family moved my daughter from Verizon to T-Mobile and took advantage of their “get one on us” with a port in to a new line promo. The store was out of the base 16 which would have been free ($0 per month) so we grabbed a 16 Plus instead (about $4 per month).

Of course, new phones are coming out in 3 weeks and I myself will preorder the 17PM, but my daughter is 13 and doesn’t need the latest—also, this phone was (nearly) free, without a trade in, so we went for it.

She’s coming from a base 15 and I’ve told her the battery will rival mine, in my 16PM. I’m a heavy user so I go through my battery somewhat quickly and she’s also a heavy user so we were often butting heads over the car charger 😂 I’m hoping the 16 Plus battery will last her a lot longer than the 15, also because I worry about her being out with friends and her phone dying.

What’s your use like? Does it still get you through the day, even a year on?

She was iffy at first because she’s always been horrified by how big my Pro Max phones are but it took her about 3.2 seconds to adjust to the bigger size, now I don’t think she understands how she ever survived with a “small” phone haha. And of course, the cameras are her favorite part!

 

[FeliApple]

I mean, I’ll reply, but I’m not sure how useful my answer will be. I have the 16 Plus. According to tests, it does rival the 16 Pro Max.

My experience has been absolutely outstanding. I upgraded from my Xʀ running iOS 12 which was already incredible. But I’m a very light and efficient user. Not in terms of time, in terms of usage intensity. I have efficient settings, low brightness, and I’m not a heavy social media user.

I get about 27 hours of screen-on time with light use, which means that I end the day with about 80% after about 6 hours of SOT. It’s ridiculous really.

Perhaps this can be a little more useful, I have some experience with full 5G usage and significant camera use. Those cycles have ended with about 5.5 to 6 hours of SOT with 60% remaining. But then again, apart from the outdoor brightness (not full, I typically keep it a little lower than that) and the camera, I’m pure efficiency: low power mode, most heavy settings disabled, and no social media concurrent with that camera use.

If she is a heavy social media user with high brightness and inefficient settings, she won’t be anywhere close to that.

If you have similar usage patterns and “fight” for car chargers like you said, perhaps you can be a better judge of this: the 16 Plus is quite similar to the Pro Max. What’s your screen-on time? Can you share a screenshot of your “last 24 hours” battery page? How much battery do you consume in a given day? How high is your brightness? What do you use it for?

The numbers I gave are texting and web browsing, maybe an app like Reddit, but not much else. Video-heavy social media apps like Instagram and TikTok are battery killers. The speakers are battery killers. High brightness destroys battery life. If some or all of this is in play, my numbers are impossible to reach.

Battery life is amazing, far beyond anything I’d ever need and far better than any other iOS device I’ve ever used, including ridiculously efficient iPads… but I’m a singularly efficient user. Most people are heavier users, and ultimately it just comes to that.

It will be significantly better than the 15… but if she’s terribly inefficient and gets something like 5 hours of SOT 100-0% on the 15… then the 16 Plus will not be a revolution. Maybe she’ll get two more hours, but it won’t be twice as good.

 

[thecautioners]

I mean, I’ll reply, but I’m not sure how useful my answer will be. I have the 16 Plus. According to tests, it does rival the 16 Pro Max.

My experience has been absolutely outstanding. I upgraded from my Xʀ running iOS 12 which was already incredible. But I’m a very light and efficient user. Not in terms of time, in terms of usage intensity. I have efficient settings, low brightness, and I’m not a heavy social media user.

I get about 27 hours of screen-on time with light use, which means that I end the day with about 80% after about 6 hours of SOT. It’s ridiculous really.

Perhaps this can be a little more useful, I have some experience with full 5G usage and significant camera use. Those cycles have ended with about 5.5 to 6 hours of SOT with 60% remaining. But then again, apart from the outdoor brightness (not full, I typically keep it a little lower than that) and the camera, I’m pure efficiency: low power mode, most heavy settings disabled, and no social media concurrent with that camera use.

If she is a heavy social media user with high brightness and inefficient settings, she won’t be anywhere close to that.

If you have similar usage patterns and “fight” for car chargers like you said, perhaps you can be a better judge of this: the 16 Plus is quite similar to the Pro Max. What’s your screen-on time? Can you share a screenshot of your “last 24 hours” battery page? How much battery do you consume in a given day? How high is your brightness? What do you use it for?

The numbers I gave are texting and web browsing, maybe an app like Reddit, but not much else. Video-heavy social media apps like Instagram and TikTok are battery killers. The speakers are battery killers. High brightness destroys battery life. If some or all of this is in play, my numbers are impossible to reach.

Battery life is amazing, far beyond anything I’d ever need and far better than any other iOS device I’ve ever used, including ridiculously efficient iPads… but I’m a singularly efficient user. Most people are heavier users, and ultimately it just comes to that.

It will be significantly better than the 15… but if she’s terribly inefficient and gets something like 5 hours of SOT 100-0% on the 15… then the 16 Plus will not be a revolution. Maybe she’ll get two more hours, but it won’t be twice as good.

Thank you for your detailed response!

My use is only particularly heavy on days where I am doing a ton of photo/video, which is almost always outside in the bright sun—so my screen quickly dims and the phone turns into lava. Otherwise I still spend WAY too much time on my phone, but almost all of it is spent doomscrolling on Facebook or Reddit. I do very little TikTok/videos.

My kid however is always on TikTok, group chats, and Snapchat (she only recently got access to social media, with the caveat that her actions with SM or poor work in school can get those privileges revoked in a heartbeat!) My hope with her 16 Plus is that I have fewer instances of her being at the park and texting me “phone is at 3%” or something, because I really want her to have access to call me or 911 in an emergency while she’s away from home. I should invest in a battery pack for her to be safe, I think

But yes I am just… on my phone too much haha. I never use my computer, I had it for a WFH job but lost that job due to medical issues, I am now disabled which means even more time to have my phone open. It’s now a most-of-the-day thing now that my kids are back in school and I’m just stuck at home either cleaning or sitting 🙃

 

[FeliApple]

Thank you for your detailed response!

My use is only particularly heavy on days where I am doing a ton of photo/video, which is almost always outside in the bright sun—so my screen quickly dims and the phone turns into lava. Otherwise I still spend WAY too much time on my phone, but almost all of it is spent doomscrolling on Facebook or Reddit. I do very little TikTok/videos.

My kid however is always on TikTok, group chats, and Snapchat (she only recently got access to social media, with the caveat that her actions with SM or poor work in school can get those privileges revoked in a heartbeat!) My hope with her 16 Plus is that I have fewer instances of her being at the park and texting me “phone is at 3%” or something, because I really want her to have access to call me or 911 in an emergency while she’s away from home. I should invest in a battery pack for her to be safe, I think

But yes I am just… on my phone too much haha. I never use my computer, I had it for a WFH job but lost that job due to medical issues, I am now disabled which means even more time to have my phone open. It’s now a most-of-the-day thing now that my kids are back in school and I’m just stuck at home either cleaning or sitting 🙃

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Yeah, very heavy usage tends to blend phones together. As unintuitive as this may seem, battery size is not as relevant when using the device that heavily.

Take, say, a 16 Pro Max and a phone like the base 13. The base 13 is rated for 19 hours. The 16 Pro Max, for 33. Kill them both with full brightness outdoors with, say, gaming, and the difference won’t be that high.

TikTok, Snapchat. Some of the most power-intensive apps that exist. I don’t know, if brightness is high, I’m not sure the difference will be that high.

Power draw is ever higher and battery technology is still Li-ion, as large as current batteries are and as efficient as Apple is with original iOS versions.

If she updates iOS, those improvements will soon be gone anyway. There’s only so much you can do vs ridiculously heavy usage.

Do let me know how it goes, however. Maybe those improvements are good enough for you not to get a call from the park saying she has 3%!

 

[thecautioners]

Yeah, very heavy usage tends to blend phones together. As unintuitive as this may seem, battery size is not as relevant when using the device that heavily.

Take, say, a 16 Pro Max and a phone like the base 13. The base 13 is rated for 19 hours. The 16 Pro Max, for 33. Kill them both with full brightness outdoors with, say, gaming, and the difference won’t be that high.

TikTok, Snapchat. Some of the most power-intensive apps that exist. I don’t know, if brightness is high, I’m not sure the difference will be that high.

Power draw is ever higher and battery technology is still Li-ion, as large as current batteries are and as efficient as Apple is with original iOS versions.

If she updates iOS, those improvements will soon be gone anyway. There’s only so much you can do vs ridiculously heavy usage.

Do let me know how it goes, however. Maybe those improvements are good enough for you not to get a call from the park saying she has 3%!

Thanks again!!

Today’s usage has been tons of video and Snapchat—we’re at a trampoline/indoor adventure park (first time here, AMAZING!) and my kid and her friend have been constantly filming each other and posting to Snapchat. Some of the jungle gyms are deep back and dark and I’m so impressed with the low light video quality of the 16 Plus!

She started at 100% at about 8:30 this morning, it’s now 12:40 and she’s at 82%… meanwhile I’m at 61% from documenting my youngest’s time here 😂 excited for that 17PM!