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Other Which is the best (non Plus size) TouchID iPhone in terms of battery life?

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NewBench

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Jun 24, 2010
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I'm considering going back to a home button/TouchID iPhone as honestly, I think I prefer it to FaceID.

I know the SE2 has a pretty bad rep for battery life, and the only other (non-Plus size) TouchID iPhones that support the latest version of iOS are the 6S, 7 and 8.

Are they all pretty similar battery life wise or does one preserve battery a little better than the others? If they're all similar to the SE2, then I suppose the SE2 is the one to go for as it has the more recent chip.

Any input appreciated, thanks.
 
My first iPhone 8 on iOS 12 got fantastic battery life, The second iPhone 8 I had on 13/14 was pretty weak on battery life but it was also a work phone and I racked 450 cycles in 18 months so I probably just wore it out. I would go SE2 over a 8 at this point.
 
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My iPhone 8 used to last a long time on standby running iOS 13, but the latest version of iOS 14 is a battery killer on my phone. It will be put in Airplane Mode and Low Battery Mode and left locked in standby and the battery level will drop 25% in half a day doing absolutely nothing. It's rediculous.
I wouldn't be surprised one bit if there's secret encrypted code inside of iOS 14 that purposely discharges older phones faster than newer ones. I'm not saying that's the case, just that I wouldn't be surprised at all.
 
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You have no choice other than the 2020 SE. If you find an 8 or 7, highly likely that their batteries have aged significantly.

If you must use older iPhones, the 6s is definitely the worst. The 8 technically is better than the 7.

The 2020 SE gets a bad rap about battery life simply because Apple has made the XR and newer iPhones with much better battery life. If you only use the phone mostly for calls and regular texts, few email accounts, and in areas with you should be fine. Obviously don’t expect a phone with less than 2000mAh battery to match phones with 3000+ mAh batteries in heavy apps usages.
 
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My guess is the 2020 SE has best battery life.

I have an iPhone 8, 18 months old. Battery health 98%, always on latest iOS. Good phone for light use, but battery discharges fast if apps are used heavily. 2 hour phone call uses about 25% battery which seems OK. I tweaked some settings to increase the battery life, such as turning off Raise To Wake. It only loses about 5% charge overnight.
 
I think technically Apple rates the 7, 8, and SE as equal. But as said above, good luck finding a 7 or 8 with the battery in brand new condition. And the SE is also going to get software updates much longer and is just the best device overall. So the SE is a no brainer here, IMO.
 
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Technically, the iPhone 7 has the highest battery capacity of all 4.7" iPhones. Apple reduced capacity on the 8 and SE2 to make room for wireless charging.

But from a practical perspective, it only makes sense to buy the SE2 if you're looking for Touch ID today.
 
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Pretty sure the all have the same battery, 1821mah. What that said, the SE has the newest chip 7nm which is definitely more power efficient than the others.

Funny this post came up today. I have an IP12P, but I get so bored with stuff in general which explains all my Android endeavors which all lead back to iPhone anyways. But, I just picked up a SE to mess around with, try touch ID again ect. While I definitely like it there is no escaping the latest and greatest iPhone. I've become use to the gestures, the all screen look and feel,l OLED and the battery life.

The first day with SE the battery was horrendous, to be expected due to settling ect, but the second day is was much better and got me through a day
 
JPack said:
Technically, the iPhone 7 has the highest battery capacity of all 4.7" iPhones. Apple reduced capacity on the 8 and SE2 to make room for wireless charging.

But from a practical perspective, it only makes sense to buy the SE2 if you're looking for Touch ID today.
Click to expand...

If one is fine buying the iPhone XR or 11, then from a performance standpoint, the SE2 is OK as well. Caveat is the battery and for some, aesthetics.

Personally, I'm considering getting a spare SE2 for $150 from Walmart. I have the 12 mini but there's something about it that triggers my migraines. Plus, despite the 12 mini's smaller chassis, the taller display actually makes it more difficult for me to operate compared to the shorter display on the SE2.

Mind, I've owned 6s, 7 and SE2. The lower power chipset on SE2 helps with battery life. I just restore from old devices so same settings and my usage is very light (often 30 minutes average daily onscreen time). Back when brand new, 6s needed daily charging, 7 every 1.5 days and SE2 every 2 days. With battery ageing on top, SE2 is the most viable option.
 
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These phones are all the same, old/obsolete tech and therefore the best option is the cheapest so probs a 6S or 7. Don’t waste your money on an SE, save up a bit more and get a 12 mini

although it is certainly correct to not consider those horrendous plus versions, that design was an embarrassment even for 2014
 
Yes definitely the iphone SE 2020, i get 36 hours of battery in between charges. The A13 is very power efficient and also uses computational photography to take good images with Apple marketing its camera as the best ‘single camera system’ on an iphone.

Also an extra bonus with the SE is its speakers, somehow Apple have made them sound better even than the previous Plus phones (better than my 8 plus and newer 12 mini).
 
KOTN91 said:
These phones are all the same, old/obsolete tech and therefore the best option is the cheapest so probs a 6S or 7. Don’t waste your money on an SE, save up a bit more and get a 12 mini

although it is certainly correct to not consider those horrendous plus versions, that design was an embarrassment even for 2014
Click to expand...

The only thing outdated about the SE is the design. In terms of internals/performance, it will likely get the same updates as the iPhone 11 series and probably just 1-2 updates lower than the iPhone 12 series.
 
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