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Is 18 hours battery life (AW9) the best Apple can do?

S

satchmo

macrumors 603
Original poster
Aug 6, 2008
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Maybe Apple is living in a bubble, and just repeating 18 hours battery life every keynote, doesn't make it impressive.

In the past, you could argue that watches from other brands were using low resolution memory in pixel displays. But no longer. The Garmin Venu 3 just released earlier this month has an AMOLED display resolution of 454 x 454 (higher than Apple's 484x396) with a battery life of 14 days.

Before you say how much faster and powerful the S9 chip is compared to whatever Garmin is using, I've never felt them to be slow or need to have a watch fast enough to play a game on.

What's going on Apple?
 
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Where are you getting the 18 hour battery life number from? My S8 battery lasts a bit over 24 hours. I never measured exactly how long it lasts, but I charge it once a day, and it's usually at around 20% when I put it back on charger, about 22-23 hours from when I took it off the charger.
 
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Apple has advertised 18hrs since the launch of S0, comparing it to Garmin is not an "apples to apples" comparison as they have vastly different features. If you want more, there's the Ultra.
Point to a smartwatch that offers the same (or close to same) feature set that offers even double the battery size.
 
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Night Spring said:
Where are you getting the 18 hour battery life number from? My S8 battery lasts a bit over 24 hours. I never measured exactly how long it lasts, but I charge it once a day, and it's usually at around 20% when I put it back on charger, about 22-23 hours from when I took it off the charger.
Click to expand...

I agree...I've used my SE for 1.5 days before (including 40 minute workouts, brief phone calls, texts etc.). Granted, I did not do sleep tracking.
 
jz0309 said:
Apple has advertised 18hrs since the launch of S0, comparing it to Garmin is not an "apples to apples" comparison as they have vastly different features. If you want more, there's the Ultra.
Point to a smartwatch that offers the same (or close to same) feature set that offers even double the battery size.
Click to expand...

What vastly different features are there between an AW9 and Garmin Venu 3?

I specifically referred to the AW9 in my original post, not the Ultra.
But if you want to go there, the Garmin Epix does 21 days in low power mode vs the Ultra's 72 hours.
 
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Night Spring said:
Where are you getting the 18 hour battery life number from? My S8 battery lasts a bit over 24 hours. I never measured
Click to expand...

18 hour expected battery life claim was by Apple at the Apple Event on September 12 2023. Of course, your results may differ, but that's Apple's statement.
 
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satchmo said:
What vastly different features are there between an AW9 and Garmin Venu 3?

I specifically referred to the AW9 in my original post, not the Ultra.
But if you want to go there, the Garmin Epix does 21 days in low power mode vs the Ultra's 72 hours.
Click to expand...
Notifications, messages, contactless pay, unlock your Mac… the list goes on
 
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satchmo said:
Maybe Apple is living in a bubble, and just repeating 18 hours battery life every keynote, doesn't make it impressive.

In the past, you could argue that watches from other brands were using low resolution memory in pixel displays. But no longer. The Garmin Venu 3 just released earlier this month has an AMOLED display resolution of 454 x 454 (higher than Apple's 484x396) with a battery life of 14 days.

Before you say how much faster and powerful the S9 chip is compared to whatever Garmin is using, I've never felt them to be slow or need to have a watch fast enough to play a game on.

What's going on Apple?
Click to expand...
You ask "What's going on Apple?"
Easy: YMMV. Battery versus performance is a balance engineers must choose. Me, I prefer Apple continue to add performance while not reducing battery life rather than adding less performance to achieve longer battery life.

Get a Garmin for less versatile weeks-long-battery smartwatch needs. Note that comparative sales figures suggest that buyers prefer Apple's approach by a lot, indicating that perhaps you, not Apple, are the one "living in a bubble."
 
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satchmo said:
I'm guessing you're not very familiar with Garmin.
Click to expand...
If you genuinely can't tell the differences between the Ultra & Garmin Venu, from a capability standpoint, then I would say that you are the one who is not very familiar, respectfully.

You'll obviously be sacrificing functionality & performance for that 21 day battery life. Why anyone actually needs a watch to last for three weeks on a single charge is beyond me. However, if that's important to you, then it seems your decision is clear cut.
 
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Asiatic Black Hebrew said:
If you genuinely can't tell the differences between the Ultra & Garmin Venu, from a capability standpoint, then I would say that you are the one who is not very familiar, respectfully.

You'll obviously be sacrificing functionality & performance for that 21 day battery life. Why anyone actually needs a watch to last for three weeks on a single charge is beyond me. However, if that's important to you, then it seems your decision is clear cut.
Click to expand...

Never compared these two, but if it serves your argument...
 
satchmo said:
Never compared these two, but if it serves your argument...
Click to expand...
No, you just come here asking about the 18hrs battery life and don’t seem to understand all the functionality.
So I assume you do not have an AW? Do you have a Garmin? Or any other smartwatch?
 
Allen_Wentz said:
You ask "What's going on Apple?"
Easy: YMMV. Battery versus performance is a balance engineers must choose. Me, I prefer Apple continue to add performance while not reducing battery life rather than adding less performance to achieve longer battery life.

Get a Garmin for less versatile weeks-long-battery smartwatch needs. Note that comparative sales figures suggest that buyers prefer Apple's approach by a lot, indicating that perhaps you, not Apple, are the one "living in a bubble."
Click to expand...

Of course everyone has their own preferences and needs. But honestly, have you found the S7, S8 watches to be lacking in performing a task?

My point is that if you step outside the Apple bubble, there are a plethora of watches that have much greater battery life. And Apple's continued proclamation of how great 18 hours of battery life is getting tiring to the point where I'm asking WTF? How can others offer so much more battery times. We're not talking a few more hours, but rather days.
 
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jz0309 said:
No, you just come here asking about the 18hrs battery life and don’t seem to understand all the functionality.
So I assume you do not have an AW? Do you have a Garmin? Or any other smartwatch?
Click to expand...
I have both.
And I have yet to find what AW feature creates such performance hit on the battery.
Of course Apple has greater integration within the ecosystem, but 18 hours versus 21 days?
Honestly, I'm happy to be educated on what creates this delta.
 
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4sallypat said:
I don't mind charging every night, but when my AW7 runs out in the afternoon, I have an issue.

Pre-ordered AW9 and would like it to last all day.
Click to expand...
if your S7 runs out in the afternoon, you really got to check what apps are running with background refresh enabled.
unless of course you use cellular a lot, listen to music and such, in which case I'm not sure that the S9 will be so much better in the long run.
And yes, a lot depends on usage, when I first got my S4 I was able with every other day charging for like the first 9 months ...
 
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shakopeemn said:
18 hour expected battery life claim was by Apple at the Apple Event on September 12 2023. Of course, your results may differ, but that's Apple's statement.
Click to expand...
I must have blinked and missed that. Could someone point to where they said that?
 
satchmo said:
Never compared these two, but if it serves your argument...
Click to expand...
Your original post is quite literally, a comparison. Multiple posters have already answered your inital question, but since you seem dead set on challenging everything that has been posted so far, let me google it for you.

Processor & hardware aside, here are a few reasons the battery on the Ultra is less than something like the Venu 2:
  • Can be used to answer calls
  • Has ECG technology
  • 47.69% bigger screen size
    1.92"vs1.3"
  • 18.93% higher resolution
    410 x 502pxvs416 x 416px
  • 50m higher waterproof depth rating
    100mvs50m
  • Has wireless charging
  • Has fall detection
  • Has voice commands
Is this enough? Or will you attempt to pick apart these facts as well?
 
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Battery life on the Apple watch is terrible!!! To be fair, same can be said for Samsung and pretty much all smart watches. Garmin offers the best battery life, Apple Ultra (which is what I have) the next best thing IMO.
 
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Asiatic Black Hebrew said:
Your original post is quite literally, a comparison. Multiple posters have already answered your inital question, but since you seem dead set on challenging everything that has been posted so far, let me google it for you.

Processor & hardware aside, here are a few reasons the battery on the Ultra is less than something like the Venu 2:
  • Can be used to answer calls
  • Has ECG technology
  • 47.69% bigger screen size
    1.92"vs1.3"
  • 18.93% higher resolution
    410 x 502pxvs416 x 416px
  • 50m higher waterproof depth rating
    100mvs50m
  • Has wireless charging
  • Has fall detection
  • Has voice commands
Is this enough? Or will you attempt to pick apart these facts as well?
Click to expand...

I'm fine listening to facts, but please stop cherry picking and changing models.

Again, have a look at the original post. I was talking about AW9 and the Venu 3.

So much of your specs you listed are moot points.
 
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