Depends on usage but it has variable refresh so when it’s sitting there not moving it’s at 1hz
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Other iPhone Air battery looks (surprisingly) fantastic
- Thread starter Yimbaz
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I am genuinely surprised about how many people seem to use the phone speakers regularly. Compared to any other audio outlet, e.g. AirPods, they are just terrible, stereo or not. Phone speakers are really the last spec I would ever care about.
My point was that they wanted to keep the parameters the same across the entire new phone lineup. They do change them year-over-year.
I mostly use phone speakers for when I’m working out at home or when I’m cleaning. Or if I’m doomscrolling and notice a video that I’m interested in watching, I can just use the speakers. I don’t want to use other audio output options because the speakers in my 16 PM are adequate for this use.
But if I’m out in public, I will 100% use my AirPods if I need to listen to something as I don’t want to annoy anybody else.
Many people don't use their phone as a bluetooth speaker, but it does get used a lot. When I'm watching a moving, or videos, i don't always want to have headphones in. The sound quality is impressive for what it is. I don't like the idea of a mono speaker.
As expected folks, the Air and the base 17 can give those numbers due to a heavily optimised video playback usage pattern. In reality, with more realistic use, both are below the 16 Plus (whilst Apple’s numbers give 30 hours for the base 17 and 27 hours for both the Air and Plus, ridiculous!).
Unlike those ridiculously heavy tests which tend to blend phones together, Tom’s guide runs a 5G web browsing test with 150 nits of brightness.
The Air, 12h 02 min
The rest:
So, as expected, with general usage (as mixed usage translates vs web browsing, unlike a full massively heavy usage of gaming with full brightness):
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/iphones/iphone-air-battery-life-tested
iPhone Air: 12h 02 min
iPhone 16: 12h 43 min
iPhone 17: 12h 47 min
iPhone 16 Pro: 14h 07 min
iPhone 17 Pro: 15h 32 min
iPhone 16 Plus: 16h 29 min
iPhone 16 Pro Max: 17h 17 min
iPhone 17 Pro Max: 17h 54 min
Giving the Air an actual SOT rating of about 19h 43 minutes of SOT vs the regular 16’s 22 hours, the 17’s 22 hours (practically no change vs the 16 in spite of Apple’s garbage video playback optimised numbers), the 16 Plus’ 27 hours, etc.
You can expect, for mixed usage, a little below the regular iPhone 16 and 17 and about 73% of the 16 Plus’ battery life on iOS 18.
Unlike those ridiculously heavy tests which tend to blend phones together, Tom’s guide runs a 5G web browsing test with 150 nits of brightness.
The Air, 12h 02 min
The rest:
So, as expected, with general usage (as mixed usage translates vs web browsing, unlike a full massively heavy usage of gaming with full brightness):
Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/phones/iphones/iphone-air-battery-life-tested
iPhone Air: 12h 02 min
iPhone 16: 12h 43 min
iPhone 17: 12h 47 min
iPhone 16 Pro: 14h 07 min
iPhone 17 Pro: 15h 32 min
iPhone 16 Plus: 16h 29 min
iPhone 16 Pro Max: 17h 17 min
iPhone 17 Pro Max: 17h 54 min
Giving the Air an actual SOT rating of about 19h 43 minutes of SOT vs the regular 16’s 22 hours, the 17’s 22 hours (practically no change vs the 16 in spite of Apple’s garbage video playback optimised numbers), the 16 Plus’ 27 hours, etc.
You can expect, for mixed usage, a little below the regular iPhone 16 and 17 and about 73% of the 16 Plus’ battery life on iOS 18.
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You forgot the 17 Pro. BTW I think these tests where all made with eSIM versions. So numbers for sim tray version might be lower for the 17 line up excluding air ofc
Edited and added, it’s above the 16 Pro and below the 16 Plus.
Some other tests I’ve seen pretty much show that the ranking is something like
1st: iPhone 17 Pro Max
A little below that
2nd: iPhone 16 Pro Max and 16 Plus (in many tests it’s even closer than on this one)
Significantly below that
3rd: iPhone 17 Pro
Signficant difference too
4th: iPhone 16 Pro
Another significant step
5th: regular iPhone 16 and 17
Depending on the test, it is either significant or not too far, but it is worse in any case:
6th: iPhone Air
As expected
I’m not sure what the difference is between the physical and the eSim versions, do you know?
It seems to be about a 300 mha difference for every model. No idea how much difference this make in real use but I would guess about 1-2 hours maybe
Between 4-6%. Assuming an average of 5%, we are looking at one hour of very light SOT for the Air and maybe two for the Pro Max more or less.
Very negligible, the difference will most likely be able to be measured in minutes for most moderate to heavy users. I think it’s a non-issue, to be honest.
I know I shouldn’t judge battery life during the first few days, but crikey took phone off charge at 5:25am this morning, and 5.5 hours later I’m at 24%.
Nothing too intense, messages, camera, photos, browsing MR.
Maybe using it more than I normally would just out of excitement but it’s making me a bit nervous.
Nothing too intense, messages, camera, photos, browsing MR.
Maybe using it more than I normally would just out of excitement but it’s making me a bit nervous.
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I set mine up as a new phone, as I wanted a clean start with my apps and prefs. Not sure if that’s relevant.
My experience today has been superb.
I shot about 20 minutes of footage in Kino earlier in 4K, edited the clips together in iMovie with transitions. Nice and fast, no discernible heat or throttling whatsoever.
Experimenting with Halide’s RAW capture ability too and editing those shots in Photomator. Nice and fast once again.
I am not a gamer so dunno about that. I imagine that could push it too far.
Played music and used Maps on a 40 minute drive using Wireless CarPlay.
Currently at 72% with 3h14 screen on time.
I think that’s very good but might not satisfy everyone.
My experience today has been superb.
I shot about 20 minutes of footage in Kino earlier in 4K, edited the clips together in iMovie with transitions. Nice and fast, no discernible heat or throttling whatsoever.
Experimenting with Halide’s RAW capture ability too and editing those shots in Photomator. Nice and fast once again.
I am not a gamer so dunno about that. I imagine that could push it too far.
Played music and used Maps on a 40 minute drive using Wireless CarPlay.
Currently at 72% with 3h14 screen on time.
I think that’s very good but might not satisfy everyone.
Yeah, I’m seeing the same sort of thing.
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I wondered about trying a clean setup but so much stuff to configure.
Regardless I don’t want to judge it prematurely. Need to give it a few days I think.
Pretty happy with the battery of my Air.
How?! I'm genuinely amazed.
2nd full day and 4-5 hours in already down to 53% with 90 minutes screen on time.
Hoping though it’s related to being a new device and all the indexing and background tasks occurring.
I do see photos running in the background quite heavily. I imagine it’s indexing or doing whatever it needs but would be a lot nicer for it to do that during the night while connected to power.
Hoping though it’s related to being a new device and all the indexing and background tasks occurring.
I do see photos running in the background quite heavily. I imagine it’s indexing or doing whatever it needs but would be a lot nicer for it to do that during the night while connected to power.