Report Claims 4.7-Inch iPhone 6 Will Feature 2,100 mAh Battery

[wigby]

Yeah, it's already thin enough. The 4S was thin enough. I would rather have a phone as thick as the 4S with a battery that outshines all competitors than a phone that is thinner. Thinner just means more fragile. Phones shouldn't be fragile. We use them too much. Why can't apple see that and just give us a real battery?!

How is thinner or lighter more fragile? I've never seen a phone bent and dropping a thinner phone vs. a thicker phone has no difference on the outcome. Plastic vs. metal does make a difference.

You're asking a sports car maker to re-engineer their vehicle to give you a bigger gas tank because you love driving the car so much but there is much more involved. If driving long distances is so important to you maybe you should drive differently or drive a different car.

 

[Aluminum213]

It's all good. Already get almost 2 days on my 5S quite consistently, so I'm sure the 6 will have decent battery life.

Good for you, but not everyone only uses their iPhone for clock like you do

Even moderate usage of a 5S (web, apps, map) will kill the battery by days end

 

[Trapezoid]

You are such an apple apologist


The number one thing people want is better battery life.

Hit the gym if your iPhone is too heavy

Do you have a source that says the number one thing people want is better battery life. Just curious, because you said it with such conviction.

 

[wigby]

A PITY he's not in charge then! I'd take extra battery life a 1000 times with the above specs!

If you don't care about thickness, try a battery case. There are many choices available for iPhone.

 

[Jago]

To be perfectly honest, I think even the reduction in thickness the iPhone went going from 4S to 5 was more than needed and they could've instead halved the thickness reduction and put in a bigger battery instead. I sure hope that since THAT didn't happen, at least it would perhaps happen this time.

 

[wigby]

Funny how those who are closing apps always complain about battery life. You could think, that they close apps because of the short battery life, but it could be the other way around as well.

They're not closing the right apps at the right time. iPhone users shouldn't have to manage their devices the way Android users do but occasionally bad code slips through and sucks batteries at accelerated rates. I used to have a few apps that kept GPS on always for no real reason. I deleted them or changed the way iOS used GPS and now I get a full day of heavy use.

 

[oneMadRssn]

They've improved leaps and bounds though. I don't know if it's because of bigger batteries or actual battery improvements but the newer android phones should get you through the day

While you are welcome to use your anecdotal evidence from your class, you have no personal experience with Android devices if the last ones you used were the Nexus S and GNex (2 phones that are KNOWN for their awful batteries). If your last experience with Android was ICS and JB, then you've completely missed the boat on what Kit Kat has done for battery life, not to mention how much better and more optimized Android phones of the last year or so are when it comes to battery life.

And the next iteration of Android (Android L) has already shown significant improvement to battery life on the Nexus 5, and it's barely a beta...more like an Alpha. Somewhere around 30% improvement on existing hardware. That's impressive, no matter where your allegiances lie.

Fair enough, I'll take your word that Android isn't as bad as it used to be. After being burned twice in a row, it's tough to believe things have changed that drastically. Maybe as Trapezoid said, its due to bigger batteries mostly.

 

[cameronjpu]

Maybe so.

I have three email accounts on push, I have background activity and location enabled for all apps and the system. I have data, LTE, Wifi, Bluetooth etc always enabled. I never force quit applications, my screen is on auto brightness, I have notifications that light up my lock screen, I have Facebook installed which is blamed to drain battery, I have Philips Hue app that uses location to toggle my lights at home when I arrive or leave.

I use my phone regularly during the day, checking Facebook, texting, web browsing, listen to spotify for with Bluetooth earpods for about an hour.

This leaves me with about 40-50% left when I hit the bed. I think that's great and I don't know what people do with their iPhones when they run out of battery half through the day.

You forgot to mention that you leave it on it's charging cable while you are at work from 9 AM until 6 PM, and then you charge it again when you get home until 9 PM, when you take it off the charger and resume your heavy usage pattern. Seriously, with that kind of usage pattern, my phone lasts about until 2 PM before it has 20%.

 

[MJD Dawg]

Yeah, it's already thin enough. The 4S was thin enough. I would rather have a phone as thick as the 4S with a battery that outshines all competitors than a phone that is thinner. Thinner just means more fragile. Phones shouldn't be fragile. We use them too much. Why can't apple see that and just give us a real battery?!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I loved my 4S. Still do.

Going from the hefty and solid feel of the 4S to the airy almost toy-like feel of the 5S was shocking at first. Of course I've gotten used to the lighter feel of the phone, but adding a bit of weight to the iPhone 6 due to a bigger battery should not be a big deal for anyone.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

To be perfectly honest, I think even the reduction in thickness the iPhone went going from 4S to 5 was more than needed and they could've instead halved the thickness reduction and put in a bigger battery instead. I sure hope that since THAT didn't happen, at least it would perhaps happen this time.

This (6) is the very best opportunity for that. They could maintain the same "thinness" of the 5s and have HUGE room for much more battery in the added width & height. Or they could still get to spin (a little) "thinner" AND put in a bigger battery.

But, I suspect, they'll maximize the "thinner" trimming and spin "about the same battery life as the 5s" based on how this game has been played in the past. Too bad though. If there was ever an opportunity to kills 2 birds with one stone (make it a little thinner to feed their marketing spin desires AND significantly jack up battery capacity), this transition to the bigger phones is definitely IT.

Having harped on "thin" for so long, it's not like they can easily maximize "thin" here and then thicken the 7 or 8 to add in battery later (though I know that one iPad model did slightly thicken). Personally, I think they should have seized this opportunity to thin the 6 a fraction of what is possible and fill the added space with the utility of more battery rather than flexing their "thinnest" muscles. Again (personally), I think the 5s is plenty thin enough- borderline too thin- so I don't look forward to "even thinner". I think that benefit(?)- that I see as mostly marketing spin now- has run it's course (probably back at iPhone 4 thin).

 

[cameronjpu]

Bigger battery doesn't equal better. Bigger battery is heavier, thicker and most importantly takes longer to load to 100%.

More efficient power usage = better.

The most important part of that, to you, is that it takes longer to load the battery to 100%? Are you an alien?

 

[Karma*Police]

I dont care about the competitors neither do I care about the people who prefer battery over silliness I know I want slimness and no one can tell ME what should I want.

Having said that I think most people think like me and would want a thinner iphone than an iphone with 2h longer battery life, I also think macrumors isn't a real representation of most users so again I think that its irrelevant that there are people here who are crying for more battery.

I'm with you. Thinner and lighter is better than fatter and heavier. I find the 5S battery life to be acceptable. Of course, battery life could always be improved. That goes without saying. But there are always trade offs and Apple usually does a better job than most of hitting the right balance.

And everyone who insists that the iPhone's battery life is so bad compared to the competition have no idea... Objective tests by Anandtech have shown it to be better than the vast majority of phones out there.

 

[yaxomoxay]

I love my 5S, but let’s be honest. Battery life isn’t that good. I am not a heavy user. I wake up at 5ish, and disconnect it from the charger. I might browse the web about 15 minutes, check facebook and email and then off to work. From 8 to 12 I barely use the phone. At lunchtime I use it a bit, then back to work. 1 to 5 I barely use the phone. At night I use it a little bit more, and I use it as a remote for my ATV. There aren’t many phone calls during the day. (yes, I barely NEED an iPhone). Before bed battery is at 25%. I am not complaining as I don’t depend on it, but I doubt that I would be able to use it for work unless I had a charger at my hands at anytime.

 

[canopic]

You are simply wrong. A larger battery does not necessarily take longer to charge. Anandtech's GS5 review is floating around and it's 2800mAh battery charges in less time than the 5S' smaller battery. Spread over more surface area a bigger battery isn't necessarily thicker either. Weight? We are talking about a few milligrams, not pounds. Perspective. But technically you're right, it would most likely weigh more.

With the same current draw the larger battery will take longer.

More mAh = bigger/heavier.

 

[Fizzoid]

If you don't care about thickness, try a battery case. There are many choices available for iPhone.

He didn't say he doesn't care about thickness, in that he wants a thicker iPhone, unless I missed one of his posts?

 

[macduke]

Some of these comments are pretty hilarious, especially this one:

A 4.7inch screen, no matter what optimisation iOS8 has, will take up power. Will an 1800mah or 2100mah battery last as long as an Android phone with a comparable screen, having a 3000mah battery? No. It just isn't possible to take away the power draw of the screen in software.

Of course, tasks can be optimised and the CPU can be underclocked so CPU processing tasks take less power.

I fear that the new iPhone will have a similar battery life to the current one, which is sadly not enough at all.

Do you really think that is all Apple does to optimize? There is so, so, so much more. Why do you think they design their own chips now? It's not just about downclocking CPUs. That's how you would save power in a laptop 10 years ago. Today Apple customizes everything. For instance, the M7 keeps track of motion as a low-power coprocessor. Other phones don't have that. But that's only scratching the surface. There are optimizations to be had across numerous systems, from optimizing network packets and LTE, to intelligently switching on and off certain parts of the chip during sleep, to more efficiently managing memory so that it isn't being utilized as often, to changing the clock frequency (which you mentioned), to doing a better job with the algorithms for the ambient light sensor to adjust the display brightness in different conditions, to chip-level stuff like organizing the physical layout so that things are more efficient, or even powering down cores on the graphics chip while the screen is static, or creating more efficient backlighting for the LCD. Another thing is WiFi calling in iOS 8. If your carrier supports it, that could drastically lower your power usage if you're in an area with weak signal. There is probably even more stuff that I can't even think of because I'm not as smart as an engineer (though I come from a line of them).

I imagine if the next iPhone has a 2100mAh battery, then it will probably have at least 15-25% longer battery life. Screen size increase is not proportional to battery drain increase. Look at the iPad—it has amazing battery life with a huge screen. The increase in battery size from more surface area almost always trumps the increase in screen size. Just look at some of the first gen Android LTE phones. That's when they switched to huge screens—they were using first gen LTE chips which were super power hungry. So they had to make giant phones to compensate.

Also—I want to know what you guys are doing on your phones that cause them to run out every day? Is the 5S really worse than the 5? Because I have a 5 that I use it quite a bit during the day, and very rarely is it below 20% by bedtime. Usually over 25%, and I'm always screwing around on my phone. Do you not have WiFi where you work? If you live or work in an area with poor LTE signal strength, then it might be switching back and forth between towers or something which can cause drain. In that case other phones probably won't help much. But WiFi calling in iOS 8 will, if your carrier supports it. Hopefully more will as time goes on.

 

[Shuri]

I do both, my iPad keeps everything open and I reset it once a week... which I think closes apps. My iPhone I spend a lot of time taking care of selecting which apps to use location data and other things to optimise battery life. I don't get great battery life on either those machines.

I'd like to think batteries and charging will be the next big tech revolution.

I guess by reset you mean turning it off and on again? Yeah that closes everything.

Well I don't know, the iPad Air I often use runs most of the time without a restart (would love to see the uptime of that thing^^) and it's battery life is pretty good: 15 hours of usage if there's not too much gaming and videos involved. But even with the latter I get 10+..

Is your iPad older or has it 3G/LTE built in?


Your last statement is spot on; anything from smartphones over electric cars, to robots is going to need a whole new battery technology, which gives us more power per kilogram.

 

[Fizzoid]

But there are always trade offs and Apple usually does a better job than most of making people believe thinner is better.

Fixed that for you

 

[ahlsn]

You forgot to mention that you leave it on it's charging cable while you are at work from 9 AM until 6 PM, and then you charge it again when you get home until 9 PM, when you take it off the charger and resume your heavy usage pattern. Seriously, with that kind of usage pattern, my phone lasts about until 2 PM before it has 20%.

No I don't. And I understand that people with the experience you describe thinks I'm an idiot who want slim phone over better battery life.

I wrote it in another comment that I think the real issue people have is bad cell coverage. I don't live in US but from what I've read all over the internet is that US carriers do the minimal amount for their customers. I used a different carrier for a while and even with 3G/LTE coverage and several dots i the display I got much worse battery life. When I switched back it was good again. I know other people who also found that bad cell coverage is devastating for the battery life.

 

[newagemac]

Ok I need to ask. What are people doing with their phones that they cannot last 1 day? Even with what I would consider heavy use my phone (a 5S) can easily last 2 days. Are you that dependent on your phone that you cannot leave it alone for a few minutes?

My guess is this has everything to do with the signal in the area they live. Where I live, AT&T has excellent coverage. I get full bars of LTE pretty much everywhere I go and battery life is superb. But every time I travel to a certain state where I usually only get 1 to 3 bars of 4G and no LTE, battery life is atrocious.

In situations like that, the radios have to use a lot more power to get a better signal. And it doesn't matter if the screen is on or not.

 

[Jimmy James]

Someone explain to me how ios8 will be optimized for the iPhone 6 (which by definition means it will not be for the 5s).

 

[Shuri]

The most important part of that, to you, is that it takes longer to load the battery to 100%? Are you an alien?

Are you really arguing that a device with a 3000 mAh battery lasting 10 hours is better than a device with a 2000 mAh one also lasting 10 hours?

This is hypothetical I know, but if it comes to rumors everything is.

I just wanted to make clear, that a bigger battery doesn't result necessarily in a better device. Hence, saying the iPhone 6 was bad, if it comes with less than input some random number here mAh is too simple.

 

[juanrp]

Light I get, but I've never understood this obsession Apple has with "thinner". What exactly does that extra 1mm do for anyone? Even at the "thickness" of the 3GS, the phone was still thin. What, you can't fit it in your pocket unless it's paper thin?

This.

People also have the thing to claim that a 4.7" screen iPhone will not fit in their pocket for some weird reason.

I don't see my pants ripping in half because of a 4.7" phone, but hey, people have the right to whine about something like that.

 

[aacealo]

As a power user, my biggest ask is more battery life. Apple has nailed everything else. My original wish list has all been met with the exception of wallet function and all-day/multi-day battery life. The wallet function I can live without. The battery issue is annoying. But seriously, how many people use the iPhone as a GPS for their 1 hour morning commute, as a flashlight behind tools, a calculator for minor data processing, their entertainment at lunch because sites like YouTube and Facebook are blocked on work computers, and then uses the phone as a GPS on the way back home? I'm thinking I'm an exception. My mom charges her iPhone every day or two without issue. If they really bump capacity my nearly 1/3rd, even with a bigger screen, I would expect battery life to at least increase enough for me not to need to plug in until I got home at night. Time will tell, but if I can have a slim device AND a device with lots of battery, that is the true ideal.

 

[Bare]

As far as "setting the phone optimally", that's nonsense it is just supposed to work.

I turned everything off on my iPhone and still it died.

What's the point of having a smart phone if you have to turn off all the features?

I call BS. What does "turned everything off" mean to you? No wifi, bluetooth, LTE, location tracking, lowest screen brightness, fetch e-mail instead of push, notifications for stupid apps like Facebook turned off, etc.? Doing all that is above and beyond what is necessary to keep the iPhone running for two full days, so either you didn't do all those things, or your phone didn't die.

Adjusting the settings on the phone to maximize battery life is not "nonsense." Having your phone on max brightness, having push notifications on for hundreds of apps, having all your apps tracking your location, etc., 1) is unnecessary, and 2) will drain the battery quickly. This makes perfect sense to me.