Which? Magazine Claims iPhone 7 Has 'Poor Battery Life' Compared to Rival Smartphones

[Tech198]

I would guess Apple does can do this, if true, and work around these things by introducing "Low power mode" which they now have, and say "its better in low power mode" when in reality all it would do is not really extend anything, but increases somewhat..

Of course if uses cut back on doing what they usually do, then u can make it last a week like me

Having never really used any smartphone all day, every day, i'm probably the least to know about this.

 

[bbeagle]

But if Apple got the most minutes of talk time it would be really important.

No.

 

[jmgregory1]

So if you are a salesmen who needs a phone to make many calls out of the office all day long are you gonna say, I'll have an iPhone, it's OK that it only last 50% of the time as other smartphones but it's actually a miracle as it's battery is 40% of the size. Yay for optimisation!! Sod the fact that he's gonna be without a phone for the afternoon eh, in your world that doesn't matter.. have I missed any real world common sense here?

What? Apple states the expected battery life of all their iPhones, so if a sales person, like me, wants / needs a phone that offers long talk times, it's pretty easy to make your decision. I use a 6s+ and get a good two+ days of use per charge out of it, including talk, web and app usage and I work 12-14 hours per day. My wife on the other hand, uses an iPhone 6 and she can hardly get through the day, although I believe her running Facebook is eating into battery life, but she's ready for an update and will get the 7 in a few weeks.

Personally, I know colleagues who use similar sized Android phones (mostly Samsung) and they have to recharge each night, so Which?'s results are clearly YMMV.

 

[admob71]

What? Apple states the expected battery life of all their iPhones, so if a sales person, like me, wants / needs a phone that offers long talk times, it's pretty easy to make your decision. I use a 6s+ and get a good two+ days of use per charge out of it, including talk, web and app usage and I work 12-14 hours per day. My wife on the other hand, uses an iPhone 6 and she can hardly get through the day, although I believe her running Facebook is eating into battery life, but she's ready for an update and will get the 7 in a few weeks.

Personally, I know colleagues who use similar sized Android phones (mostly Samsung) and they have to recharge each night, so Which?'s results are clearly YMMV.

Your reply makes no sense in relation to what I wrote...

 

[jmgregory1]

Your reply makes no sense in relation to what I wrote...

My reply was noting that if you buy an iPhone, you know what the battery life is going to be because Apple tells you. Obviously every situation will vary and perhaps 3G cell service tested by Which? was more challenging for Apple's cell radio (due to being a now older technology) and hence the lower battery life. But ultimately, they were still comparing phones with wildly different battery sizes and it is a DUH result that a bigger battery provides more usage.

What would you say if Which? tested the 7+ against the competitive phones and the iPhone 7+ provided more battery life (which it does)? Would that be an unfair comparison?

 

[admob71]

My reply was noting that if you buy an iPhone, you know what the battery life is going to be because Apple tells you. Obviously every situation will vary and perhaps 3G cell service tested by Which? was more challenging for Apple's cell radio (due to being a now older technology) and hence the lower battery life. But ultimately, they were still comparing phones with wildly different battery sizes and it is a DUH result that a bigger battery provides more usage.

What would you say if Which? tested the 7+ against the competitive phones and the iPhone 7+ provided more battery life (which it does)? Would that be an unfair comparison?

Not in the slightest, battery size, screen size etc is irrelevant, folk just wanna know how long the battery lasts.. end of...
Trying to make excuses for poor battery life because Apple was too cheap to put in a larger battery is the issue.

 

[kcwookie]

I upgraded from a 6s Plus and I'm not seeing worse battery life, My phone actually last longer. I don't have to charge my iPhone at work any longer. One thing I did notice was that the battery life was better when I set it up as a new phone, when I finally got my backup issue resolved and restored my phone, the battery life wasn't as good. Sounds to me like I have a software issue that I need to hunt down. I'm in the process of pruning all the apps I don't regularly use, one of those may be the issue.

 

[johnnyjibbs]

I think some of the responses on here are misreading the situation. Which is a respected consumer rights magazine and is on our side. I love Apple as well but we all know they could do more for battery life (especially in iOS 10) and what do we as consumers have to lose if there is criticism? Competition is good for us as it will mean Apple tries harder next time.

I'm sure there are plenty of software optimisations too that Apple can make. My pet hate is Photos uploading photos to iCloud in the background rather than providing an option to do it only when charging. It does that even when battery is at low remaining capacity. On a day out with my baby son I find that more than 30% battery drain is down to iCloud Photos uploading, for instance, on top of the drain that I get for using the camera.