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Why does the iPhone SE have better battery life than the 6S?

DetroitBORG's review benchmarked the iPhone batteries,

The SE's was 91% better than the 5S, 61% better than the 6S, and 9% better than the 6S+.


I've been burning my SE in running it full bright with the same HD movie like I always do, after the 2+ hours the battery was at 76%. I don't ever recall rebooting that movie 4 times to drain a phone battery fully.
 
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Apple's posted battery life figures and early reviews seem to suggest that battery life will beat the 6s by about 20% in most cases, but it will be similar to or behind the 6s plus depending on usage (6s plus still definitely wins in screen off uses due to the size of it's battery but it is close to a draw in screen on usage due to the larger power draw of the 5.5" screen).
 
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The plus will annihilate the SE in standby time, purely because of the size of its battery. A tanker holds more water than a fishing boat.

HOWEVER, the on screen time, which is what matters to the heavy user, should see the se pull ahead, because it doesn't have as power hungry a display as the plus.

I guess we'll know for sure in the coming days, but if it even outclasses the 6s by a sizeable margin, it'll be a big sell for me to grab one. Love the battery case, but damn it's bulky.
 
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So far I'm getting excellent results with my new SE. Almost 4 hours of use and battery is at 73%. My 6s+ never touched battery life like this.
 
Interesting to see everyone's results.

Today, mine is at 75%, 2h 18m usage, and 8h 59m standby. My Plus was better by a bit, (I'd estimate) at 80-85% with the same usage.

Regarding Apple's numbers, I don't trust it 100%. My old 5 was supposed to get much better life than the 4 it replaced, but it was actually slightly worse.
 
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cableguy84 said:
No offence , but i dont know where you have been since the release of the plus.
The plus series is basically the smartphone industry standard for battery life, all other phones are measured against it.
Very doubtful the SE will have better battery life
Click to expand...
Really, I would have thought the two day charge cycle of the Xperia range are the phones all others are measured by?
 
Lankyman said:
Really, I would have thought the two day charge cycle of the Xperia range are the phones all others are measured by?
Click to expand...

I regularly get 2 days from my iphone 6S plus if i don't constantly use it all day.

Seriously though do you know anyone who owns an xperia? would you ever consider buying one? I wouldn't.

Among the big players like samsung, google etc. the plus is easily the best in terms of battery life
 
cableguy84 said:
I regularly get 2 days from my iphone 6S plus if i don't constantly use it all day.

Seriously though do you know anyone who owns an xperia? would you ever consider buying one? I wouldn't.

Among the big players like samsung, google etc. the plus is easily the best in terms of battery life
Click to expand...

Yes I certainly do - ME! and as a light user I only need to charge it every 3 days. Best phone I have ever owned by a long way. I have had an iPhone but wouldn't consider going back to one whilst Sony can still make products like this.
 
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Lankyman said:
Yes I certainly do - ME! and as a light user I only need to charge it every 3 days. Best phone I have ever owned by a long way. I have had an iPhone but wouldn't consider going back to one whilst Sony can still make products like this.
Click to expand...

Ok fair enough . I used to love sony stuff back in the day
 
My battery so far. I'm Happy. Haven't charged it since yesterday once since I charged it up full for first time. I'm going to let it drain all the way!

I'm a happy camper
 

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cableguy84 said:
Ok fair enough . I used to love sony stuff back in the day
Click to expand...
You might be pleasantly surprised if you auditioned the latest Xperia Z5C. I have found Android a truly liberating experience. So much so I sold my iPad and bought the Xperia Tablet to go with the phone.
 
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Man, The comfortableness of holding the phone and those amazing battery life figures keep tempting me to try again with another SE. Just still have to decide if I can actually give up 3D Touch and the more spacious keyboard. I love using the keyboard as a trackpad.

The defects on mine might have kind of soured it for me.
 
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cableguy84 said:
I regularly get 2 days from my iphone 6S plus if i don't constantly use it all day.

Seriously though do you know anyone who owns an xperia? would you ever consider buying one? I wouldn't.

Among the big players like samsung, google etc. the plus is easily the best in terms of battery life
Click to expand...

i know a lot of people that own an Xperia.. including me with a Z3 Compact, and i'm able to get 2 days easily, and that's after owning it for almost 2 years. when i first got it, i could get 3 days. don't knock it til you try it. Sony makes great phones with features that are actually useful and their Android skin is the lightest. they are just terrible at marketing it here in the US.
 
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cableguy84 said:
Lets look at physical dimensions not numbers, numbers are meaningless.

Look at a Plus battery in any teardown, it is huge. The SE cant physically compete against that, i dont care how big the plus screen is
Click to expand...

Most reviews say that the SE either comes close or matches the 6S+ in battery life.

Again, you obviously don't understand how screens or batteries work. The Plus has a massive screen with a higher pixel density - that means a bigger backlit area which automatically uses more power and the GPU uses more power rendering more. The 6S+ will win in the standby time due to the screen not being on, but in other areas the SE will be pretty much on par.
 
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cableguy84 said:
No offence , but i dont know where you have been since the release of the plus.
The plus series is basically the smartphone industry standard for battery life, all other phones are measured against it.
Very doubtful the SE will have better battery life
Click to expand...

No offense, and while my signature is a little outdated, I've had two 6+ and one 6S+ and my Note 5 destroys both in battery life. My 5S lasted quite a while also. My fiancé's 6S was terrible with battery life but now she went to the S7 and it is easily all day strong.

You and that "electronicsguy" need to tone down the attitude. In case you've never seen my outdated signature...I have a "SIM Free" SE coming in the mail as the 5 body has been my favorite iPhone design and feel. Not sure if I will keep the Note 5 or not, but I probably will until jailbreak comes for 9.3 or 9.3.1..
 
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According to Detroitborg, the SE actually has better on screen time than the iphone 6S and 6S+. Slightly over 4 hours.

 
C DM said:
Need to use it for at least a few charging cycles before any decently meaningful observations and conclusions could be made.
Click to expand...
False.

Apple has excellent documentation and tips at Apple.com that debunk the myth above.
[doublepost=1459569942][/doublepost]
kerrikins said:
Give it a few days, it may still be indexing, etc.
Click to expand...
No such thing.

Apple's stellar battery design and battery charging tips are the best in the industry.
 
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maxsix said:
[doublepost=1459569942][/doublepost]
No such thing.

Apple's stellar battery design and battery charging tips are the best in the industry.
Click to expand...

...?

Settings -> General -> Spotlight Search. Everything in there gets indexed, and what results show up immediately after you restore a phone differs from what shows up later, because the phone is still compiling everything. That's what I'm referring to.
 
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cableguy84 said:
No offence , but i dont know where you have been since the release of the plus.
The plus series is basically the smartphone industry standard for battery life, all other phones are measured against it.
Very doubtful the SE will have better battery life
Click to expand...
While I agree that the Plus has great battery life, there are many phones that beat it, even from the big names. The new Galaxy phones, for example, are estimated to get 24+ hours of talk time. The S7 has about the same battery capacity as the 6S Plus, yet lasts longer when powering a higher resolution display. And other smartphones have been getting better battery life than the Plus since before the Plus even existed. Again, not saying that the Plus doesn't have great battery life, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it an industry standard. Battery life has always been a staple drawback on iPhones compared to other smartphones- all of us Apple fans just don't like to admit that. (Also kind of ironic when Apple touts some of the best battery life in the laptop market)
 
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