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iPhone 18 Pro Max's Larger Battery Capacity Allegedly Revealed

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The upcoming iPhone 18 Pro Max will be equipped with a nearly 12% larger battery compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, according to an apparent leak.

iPhone-18-Pro-Dark-Cherry-Feature.jpg

An alleged photo of a battery pack for a Chinese model of the iPhone 18 Pro Max with a SIM card tray lists a capacity of 5,391 mAh, up from 4,823 mAh for the equivalent iPhone 17 Pro Max battery. The photo was shared on the Korean platform Naver today, but it supposedly originated from the Chinese social media platform Weibo.

The identical 5,391 mAh capacity appeared in a regulatory database last month, so the capacity is looking increasingly likely to be accurate.

Alleged-iPhone-18-Pro-Max-Battery-for-China.jpg

For the U.S. model of the iPhone 18 Pro Max, in which the lack of a SIM card tray provides more space for a slightly larger battery, the Naver post claims it will have a 5,567 mAh capacity. The equivalent iPhone 17 Pro Max has a 5,088 mAh battery, so this would work out to be a nearly 10% increase on a year-over-year basis.

Based on this leak, it appears that meaningful battery life gains will not extend to the smaller iPhone 18 Pro. In the U.S., the device will apparently have a 4,288 mAh battery, which would be less than a 1% increase over the iPhone 17 Pro's 4,252 mAh battery in that country. It was previously rumored that the iPhone 18 Pro Max will be thicker than the iPhone 18 Pro, so that might help to explain the difference.

All of the alleged iPhone 18 Pro battery capacities are listed in the table below.

iPhone 18 Pro
ChinaChina DifferenceU.S.U.S. Difference
iPhone 16 Pro3,582mAh+308mAh3,582mAh+308mAh
iPhone 17 Pro3,988mAh+406mAh4,252mAh+670mAh
iPhone 18 Pro4,056mAh+68mAh4,288mAh+36mAh


iPhone 18 Pro Max
ChinaChina DifferenceU.S.U.S. Difference
iPhone 16 Pro Max4,685mAh+244mAh4,685mAh+244mAh
iPhone 17 Pro Max4,823mAh+138mAh5,088mAh+403mAh
iPhone 18 Pro Max5,391mAh+568mAh5,567mAh+479mAh


The capacities differ by region because Apple has continued to include a SIM tray on iPhones sold in some countries outside of the U.S., while U.S. models have been eSIM only since the iPhone 14 lineup. Without a physical tray taking up internal space, Apple can fit a slightly larger battery into the eSIM-only version of each device.

Starting with the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro Max, the SIM card tray is also removed on models sold in Canada, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and a few other countries and territories.

Article Link: iPhone 18 Pro Max's Larger Battery Capacity Allegedly Revealed
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/08/10/iphone-18-pro-max-battery-capacity-rumor/
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Wow iPhone 18 Pro customers are going to get screwed really bad. I wonder what is the motivation behind Apple to do that? It must come down to money.
 
don't know if this is a hot take, but I'm thinking this could lead to a widened price gap between the Pro and Pro Max from $100 to $200
 
This capacity increase and the more efficient processors (A19 and C2) should lead to like 20% more battery life, right? Or might it all go to Siri AI?
My17PM is typically 60+% at the end of the day, so I wouldn't benefit though others might
 
kevinlaz said:
don't know if this is a hot take, but I'm thinking this could lead to a widened price gap between the Pro and Pro Max from $100 to $200
Click to expand...
Those battery capacity increases are so small, they cost Apple less than $1 per phone. RAM would be what will increase the price of iPhones 18.
 
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I would love to see some huge battery upgrades in the coming years. It feels like there has not been major progress when it comes to battery technology. I still charge my phone daily as I did years ago.
 
Will they finally drop the damn SIM slot in the UK this time? If the Air can be sold here without one, there is no excuse to give us a crippled battery life version when every major carrier supports eSIM and has done here for a long time.
 
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Maigrais said:
Wow iPhone 18 Pro customers are going to get screwed really bad. I wonder what is the motivation behind Apple to do that? It must come down to money.
Click to expand...

I wonder if it’s because they want to entice pro buyers to the max instead?

If so it’s annoying as the max’s are too big for me and I’d only consider the pro, yet I want feature and performance parity as much as possible with the larger phone.
 
So 18 Pro will still be a phone you can hold in one hand, whereas 18 Pro Max will be heavy as a rock. Batteries are very heavy.
 
I think Appple is trying to load up low cost upgrades not affected by the ram/ssd price issues to lessen the negative optics on the 20%+ price increases coming because of ram/ssd price issues.
 
Maigrais said:
Wow iPhone 18 Pro customers are going to get screwed really bad. I wonder what is the motivation behind Apple to do that? It must come down to money.
Click to expand...
Their not getting screwed over, Apple already filled the 17 Pro to the brim with battery capacity giving it exceptional battery life (i can vouch for that) there is not much space left for more. With the Pro Max, because of its larger chassis, they have more space to play with.
 
I wondered if any of this increase in battery capacity might come by adding silicon to the battery's anode (currently no iPhone's battery anode contains silicon, just graphite), but looking into it, it seems that all the added capacity is due to the thicker battery. Apple is sticking with graphite since it's not subject to the expansion and contraction that causes micro-cracking in anodes with silicon, used by some Android manufacturers. Apple's goal for now seems to be in maximizing the lifespan of their batteries, and increasing their capacity by just making them bigger, but it's pretty likely that Apple will start using anodes with some silicon in them within the next year or so, maybe with the release of the 20th Anniversary model.
 
I skipped the 17 Pro Max because the SIM card tray version wasn’t a huge increase in battery capacity from the 16 Pro Max. I must say the 16 Pro Max has been an excellent phone as far as battery health and life, but I’m very much looking forward to getting the 18 Pro Max because of the extra capacity and also the upgraded ultrawide camera
 
johnsawyercjs said:
I wondered if any of this increase in battery capacity might come by adding silicon to the battery's anode (currently no iPhone's battery anode contains silicon, just graphite), but looking into it, it seems that all the added capacity is due to the thicker battery. Apple is sticking with graphite since it's not subject to the expansion and contraction that causes micro-cracking in anodes with silicon, used by some Android manufacturers. Apple's goal for now seems to be in maximizing the lifespan of their batteries, and increasing their capacity by just making them bigger, but it's pretty likely that Apple will start using anodes with some silicon in them within the next year or so, maybe with the release of the 20th Anniversary model.
Click to expand...
it has to for next year if they are adding 6000 battery
 
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