iPhone Air iPhone Air battery life test - 70% of iPhone 17, 56% of 17 Pro Max

[EugW]

7:18 - iPhone Air
9:51 - iPhone 16
10:28 - iPhone 17
10:47 - iPhone 17 Pro
11:58 - S25 Ultra
12:15 - iPhone 16 Pro Max
12:59 - iPhone 17 Pro Max

 

[EugW]

The iPhone Air's battery life is:

74.1% of iPhone 16
69.7% of iPhone 17
67.7% of iPhone 17 Pro
59.6% of iPhone 16 Pro Max
56.2% of iPhone 17 Pro Max

Note that all of the above non-Air iPhones have the nano-SIM tray since they are the UK versions.
The North American eSIM iPhone versions would do even better than these nano-SIM versions did here.

 

[gomakoto]

Welp, maybe I might need that battery pack after all. Still don’t regret it though. This phone is so comfortable.

 

[joshwithachance]

The fact that people are complaining about 7+ hours of ACTUAL usage/screen on time, particularly in a device that practically defies the laws of physics, proves that we as a society need to take a step back, reassess the phone addiction epidemic, and go touch some ****ing grass lol.

 

[EugW]

The fact that people are complaining about 7+ hours of ACTUAL usage/screen on time, particularly in a device that practically defies the laws of physics, proves that we as a society need to take a step back, reassess the phone addiction epidemic, and go touch some ****ing grass lol.

It of course depends on how you're using it. When I'm at work I don't need long battery life... because I work from home. 🙂 However, when I'm traveling, I find battery life to be a constant concern, especially if I'm tethering my laptop or iPad Pro.

 

[NauticalDan]

All the battery tests I’ve seen kinda show that heavy processor intensive task loads are the battery sucker for the air.

Even in this mrwhosetheboss video above, the results got way worse as soon as he spent 1/3 of the iPhone Air battery on an hour of 4K video recording.

For regular, casual use, the iPhone air battery tests (like those from Dave2D or tomsguide) get closer to apple’s claims.

Gamers or photo or video professionals would likely find the iPhone Air battery a deal breaker.

PS: my iPhone Air came off the charger 3h45min ago and I’ve been browsing the web mostly and watching a few YouTube videos for 2h05m of screen on time. My battery is at 88%.

 

[EugW]

All the battery tests I’ve seen kinda show that heavy processor intensive task loads are the battery sucker for the air.

Even in this mrwhosetheboss video above, the results got way worse as soon as he spent 1/3 of the iPhone Air battery on an hour of 4K video recording.

For regular, casual use, the iPhone air battery tests (like those from Dave2D or tomsguide) get closer to apple’s claims.

Gamers or photo or video professionals would likely find the iPhone Air battery a deal breaker.

Yes, that's true, but the Air also drained the battery much quicker than the other models in the other tests too. This is before the 4K video recording part:

One of the things I do that kills the battery the quickest is tethering for internet access on my laptop or iPad Pro. I wonder how the iPhone 17 series and iPhone Air would fare with tethering.

One of the solutions for this for an iPad Pro (but not MacBook) is to get a cellular version and just not tether, but I didn't want to pay the extra for the iPad Pro and for the monthly cellular plan, especially since I don't travel for work anymore.