Next Generation iPhone Battery Only Marginally Higher Capacity

[Geckotek]

Apple has historically made a big deal out of long battery life in its portable devices. I think, if the battery is going to remain relatively small, this must indicate that the device will be very efficient.

We are getting to the point with smartphones where higher specs - more cores, better GPUs, more vRAM, are starting to show minimal returns. The 4S is significantly more powerful than the 4 but, when the most popular apps are messaging services, skype, Tiny Wings and a bunch of note taking and organisational apps, the difference rarely shows up to the end user. Even when you do play high end games, does anyone feel that the graphics in games like Infinity Blade are poor? Does Real Racing 2 look ugly to you? The current hardware still has lots of potential - Real Racing 3 looks amazing and that will be running on the hardware currently in the 4S and 3rd Gen iPad. There's no need to ramp things up even more - after all, this is still a smartphone, not a home console or a laptop. People don't need quad core CPUs to read e-books, play Angry Birds and watch YouTube clips. But a slimmer device with good battery life? That's something that we can all appreciate.

I think Apple's new iPhone will eschew faster, bigger and more powerful and, instead, opt for slimmer, lighter and more efficient. If you're looking for an iPhone you can boast to your friends about and compare GeekBench scores, this isn't the phone for you. Wait, what am I thinking, people who boast about GeekBench scores don't have any friends!

If we assume the new iPhone will carry the smaller, 32nm A5 chip and will include the lower powered IGZO screen and the new generation LTE chipsets, then it's reasonable to think that the battery life on this device will be better than on the 4S while increasing performance a modest amount within a smaller, lighter product. Think about it this way, Apple refused to have LTE early on precisely because the battery life would be badly impacted. They made the same choice about 3G on the first iPhone. Do you really think that same company would go ahead and design a device with terrible battery life? That just doesn't make sense.

Good points, but I think the determining factor will be if Apple continue the gaming focus they've had for a while. If they do, then I think we may see a focus on spec bumps like the proc and memory. So we might get an A5x or we might even get an A6 with a die shrink and an overall more efficient processor design.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Anyway, as you said, they are just "rumored". The problem with IGZO might be the lower yield, considering the high demand for iPhone

Agreed. I read that IGZO gives you great power savings and quality at less cost than LTPS displays but it may be more of a yield issue than anything at this point. The future looks good if Sharp can hold on (financially)

Wrong. The 4S has an additional microphone to neutralize background noises and get a better reading on a person's voice. I have Siri on my iPHone 4 and it blows because my phone can't hear me correctly half the time.

Correct ...noise cancellation in the 4s works great. I noticed it when my buddy went from a Droid to a 4S. Though the new iPad doesn't have a second mic and it'll get Siri this fall so it's not a dealbreaker.

The switch to Sharp and Foxconn buying a large share of them does raise an eyebrow though. Could they only go to sharp for In-Cell? I doubt it.

I thought the In-Cell was coming from a consortium of display companies but I may have read that wrong....ahh and it seems like Sharp is not a member
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Display

Who said anything about the iPhone 4? Read my question again. Why doesn't the new iPad have siri when the iphone 4s had it?

Still political. Honestly I think Apple wanted to limit the hit to their servers and then ramp things up. Sorry for misreading your initial post. I'll get another coffee now

 

[koppie644]

I guess they have to upgrade their data center to prevent outage, considering the vast number of iPhone 4S out there

Who said anything about the iPhone 4? Read my question again. Why doesn't the new iPad have siri when the iphone 4s had it?

 

[speedyg256]

Who said anything about the iPhone 4? Read my question again. Why doesn't the new iPad have siri when the iphone 4s had it?

The new iPad has siri with iOS6

 

[Geckotek]

There is to consider that the iPhone still use 45nm technology for its processor while the Galaxy has a 28nm.

I think they are expected to move to at least 32nm or under.

 

[JHankwitz]

I fear the stupidity of this is becoming a reality. I really don't want to see a longer iPhone.

Then don't buy or look at one. It's that easy to rectify your problem.

 

[bjones521]

The new iPad has siri with iOS6

Exactly! lol. Yes and the iphone has siri with IOS5. Like I said in my earlier post. Just because the iPad has LTE doesn't mean the next iphone will just yet.

 

[BvizioN]

Who said anything about the iPhone 4? Read my question again. Why doesn't the new iPad have siri when the iphone 4s had it?

Apple makes twice as much money from iPhones then it makes from iPads. It wanted Siri to be iPhone 4s exclusive for a year. LTE on the other hand is different. I personaly think the next gen of iPhones will have LTE, however nothing can be guarantee

 

[Mad-B-One]

The same reason siri was on the 4s but not on the new iPad??? Just because the iPad has a feature doesn't mean the iphone will have it and vise versa.

So, with that logic, it will come to the iPhone though. Following that logic, in Fall 2012 - together with Siri coming to the (latest current) iPad.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Apple makes twice as much money from iPhones then it makes from iPads. It wanted Siri to be iPhone 4s exclusive for a year. LTE in the other hand is different. I personaly think the next gen of iPhones will have LTE, however nothing can be guarantee

There's no reason not to put in LTE. It's now a 2 chip 28nm solution. If you look at the Galaxy SIII you see it has marked battery life improvements and having more efficient 28nm LTE chips is a large part of that.

 

[chrmjenkins]

There's no reason not to put in LTE. It's now a 2 chip 28nm solution. If you look at the Galaxy SIII you see it has marked battery life improvements and having more efficient 28nm LTE chips is a large part of that.

You can also use the One X for reference. Same SoC. (and a great SoC BTW).

I thought the In-Cell was coming from a consortium of display companies but I may have read that wrong....ahh and it seems like Sharp is not a member
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Display

Indeed, so why the change to Sharp all the sudden. Seems like IGZO is coming, if not in this iPhone. With IGZO, in-cell and gorilla glass 2, they could really slim the display down and save a lot of power.

 

[baller1308]

There are some things I like and some things I don't like about the new phone. I like that the headphone jack is going to be located on the bottom. Makes it a lot cleaner imo. I don't like the openings for the speakers. Looks odd, wish they kept the same look as the 4S. Other than that I don't mind the new size. We'll see how it looks when it is released next month.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Just make the battery taller AND keep the thickness, Apple. I promise, we don't care if it's .057mm thicker. Ugh.

 

[Rocketman]

Wow, this thread is like bizarro-land.

More efficient SoC, IGZO screens that Sharp's saying could reduce consumption by 90%, a new generation of 4G chips that don't draw any more power than their 3G counterparts, and on top of all that, a bigger battery?!

Also consider that all of the iPhones have had best-in-class battery life, blowing away most other smartphones, so it's not like they're starting from a position of weakness.

Bravo Apple.

If that is true in practice, I will applaud it as a major technical achievement. I am however expecting the system power usage to go up net net, and the battery to be no better in practice.

I believe Apple has a design rule to have the device last one work day under normal usage. I believe that because I have observed it year after year for a long time.

This standard is probably just fine for 60-70% of users and this fact is the justification for not improving the standard by making the device imperceptibly thicker and heavier, or having a second thicker model.

But if you have ever had the experience of running low on power with no good options to recharge "when you need to", you know it really does matter. Now I know those people who regularly run into this can buy an extra battery dongle, and do. But for only about 3mm extra thickness, more than half of those folks would not need the dongle, or would be traditional users not inconvenienced or put into danger as a result.

Given that iPhone sells several tens of millions of units and they already have two colors and 3 capacities of memory, why not have ONE color with ONE capacity with a 150-200% battery?

Rocketman

 

[flux73]

What is it with all you hall monitor types? From past history, these types of part leaks prove to be legit, so everyone is commenting on them. Stop getting your underoos in a twist. No one appointed you protector and guardian of Apple's sacred can of magic unicorn dust. You're like little girls with the "how can you even talk about something that hasn't been released yet?" If you don't like what goes on in a iPhone rumor forum then take your ball and go home.

Uh yeah, my underoos are in a twist? If you don't like what you THINK is coming from Apple, why not just vote with your wallet? Even if the form factor is legit (and yeah, I think it is), there are many other features to a phone other than its screen size. (Personally, I'm hoping for inductive charging and as a result - a truly wireless phone.) But if screen size really is the only feature you care about and you don't think ANYTHING else about this phone will be innovative, then there are lots of big screen phones already - go buy one! I don't see the point in bitching about a feature that you already have many options for. It's like being in a buffet and complaining that it sucks because they don't have pizza. Meanwhile, there's a Pizza Hut right across the street.

 

[hundleton1]

Something is just not rite with all of this, i work for a manufacture that made parts of cars, on every assembly line parts were scanned in in quantities and a completed part scanned out, even on this basic thing it was almost impossible to steel/loose components, a faulty part was even scanned as and returned, if it was not it would be tracked and investigated.

Apple and Foxcon will not just loose a this many parts, any that go missing they will know who had them last, if 10 batteries go to a person then 10 phones with batteries must move along the line.


my 10p worth is this.

We have deliberate information leaking from Apple, if some or all of these parts will be on the new iPhone or not is hard to say, these parts are from a prototype that was never assembled and they have been leaked intentionally.

I could be way off the mark here but Apple being Apple i just don't see it being leaks on this scale, hell we almost have enough parts for a whole phone.

 

[AlexJaye]

I've held out on my iPhone 4 with home button that works once in a dozen presses and power button that has lost it's "click" and near needs to be pushed into the body to operate while anticipating the "iPhone 5". If all its innovation is future-tech data speed upgrades (which I can't benefit from) and a stretched screen then I may well move to another brand.

I feel the same way while waiting with my iPhone 4. This "new iPhone" is not impressive.

 

[Geckotek]

What is it with all you hall monitor types? From past history, these types of part leaks prove to be legit, so everyone is commenting on them. Stop getting your underoos in a twist. No one appointed you protector and guardian of Apple's sacred can of magic unicorn dust. You're like little girls with the "how can you even talk about something that hasn't been released yet?" If you don't like what goes on in a iPhone rumor forum then take your ball and go home.

It seems you kind of missed the point of his post.

 

[Ajones330]

People are hilarious, everyone on here saying they will switch phones because of the battery. I say LIES, as soon as Apple unveils this phone people will line up to give them their money. Lets be honest folks

 

[Geckotek]

I feel the same way while waiting with my iPhone 4. This "new iPhone" is not impressive.

Do people realize that a revolutionary design is not possible every year, let alone very few years??

 

[1finite]

My fanboyism for Apple is rapidly declining. Jut make it thicker and have a battery that lasts 2 days

 

[nuckinfutz]

I feel the same way while waiting with my iPhone 4. This "new iPhone" is not impressive.

What would be impressive?

----------

My fairweatherness for Apple is rapidly declining. Jut make it thicker and have a battery that lasts 2 days

Fixed that for you

 

[BvizioN]

We'll see how it looks when it is released next month.

We are taking this release date so for granted, forgetting that just like anything else in this site, it's a rumor

 

[wizard]

The truth is you don't know!

People often blame the wrong components for battery life issues, this is common with iPad 3 where most of the power goes to the backlight. In the case of the iPhone the potential is there to lower power usage of the screen by as much as 30% if the right combination of screen and back light technology is implemented. Combined with other low power components and this could lead to significant power savings in the next iPhone.

Here's hoping this is the battery for the $99 4S....

/denial

From the sounds of it the next iPhone is going to be even more power hungry( bigger screen and LTE) and Apple is still sticking with relatively the same battery? Battery life is going to take a hit and the 4S's battery life isn't that good to begin with.... I don't even think a Cortex A15 based "A6" will be able to maintain current battery life( let alone getting it back to the 4's level).

Maybe maybe not! The fact is nobody here knows what the power profile of the new phone will be like. Actually it is hard to say for sure that this battery is even for the new iPhone, it could just as well be for an upgraded 4S. I still see Apple going with a two phone lineup for some time.

 

[tigress666]

well, thats the deal breaker. Was on board for the longer screen and smaller parts only if there was a huge battery inside. Will evaluate other options now.

That may be a deal breaker for me cause I didn't even want the larger screen (for one thing I didn't feel it needed it and less battery life was one negative of a larger screen that I felt wasn't worth a larger screen, or in other words was one of the reasons I didn't want a larger screen).

I am waiting for the official announcement but I may hold off and see what the reviews are before deciding (and I was planning on upgrading since my contract was out).

I like a smaller phone, true (another reason I didn't want a larger screen), but they could have kept the same thickness and had a better battery to make up for the larger screen and LTE that will eat more if they had to put in a larger screen. And honestly, just making it taller really doesn't add any benefit a larger screen might add. So there's not even much of a benefit.

Still waiting to see the announcement and reviews, but the more I hear, the more I worry.

----------

Everybody chill. Combined with the Gobi 28nm chips, this will be the 3rd year in a row that they are sticking with 8 hours talk time (3G) and 6 hours surf time (3G). Clearly they have data showing that is sufficient for pretty much all users to get through the day. Now, if you are an iPhone nerd (hint: if you are in an iPhone forum, then Yes, you are) then you probably use it more than that. That makes you an edge case. This doesn't mean sales will crumble and Apple is doomed. This means we are an edge case, that's it.

Sales crumbling only affects me to the extent it affects the app availability. I'm sure they'll sell enough.

What I care is how it affects me. I want enough battery I don't worry about it. iPhone as is has about that much but it still doesn't feel like it has plenty. I wouldn't complain about having more basically. And I would complain about having less.