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Will the iPhone 17 Air Have Good Battery Life? Here's What Rumors Say

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The widely-rumored iPhone 17 Air is expected to be the thinnest iPhone ever, but will that significantly impact the device's battery life?

iPhone-17-Air-Size-Feature.jpg

Below, we recap rumors about the iPhone 17 Air's battery life.

Last week, The Information's Wayne Ma said the iPhone 17 Air will have "worse" battery life compared to previous iPhone models. In internal testing, Apple determined that the percentage of users who will be able to use the iPhone 17 Air for a full day on a single charge will be between 60% and 70%, according to his reporting. For other iPhone models, the report said that this metric falls between 80% and 90%.

The report said the lesser battery life is due in part to the iPhone 17 Air's ultra-thin design. According to Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the device will measure just 5.5mm at its thinnest point, but the rear camera bar will be thicker.

To mitigate this problem, the report said that Apple is planning to release a battery case as an optional accessory for the iPhone 17 Air.

Apple last released battery cases for the iPhone 11 lineup, followed by the since-discontinued MagSafe Battery Pack for the iPhone 12 series and newer. The case would presumably charge the iPhone 17 Air via the device's USB-C port.

Not everyone agrees that the iPhone 17 Air will have worse battery life, though.

In March, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the iPhone 17 Air's battery life would be "on par with current iPhones." He said Apple made hardware and software optimizations to make the device more power efficient, but he did not elaborate.

There are three rumored features for the iPhone 17 Air that could aid battery life, including a higher-density battery, Apple's power-efficient C1 modem, and the lack of an Ultra Wide camera providing more internal space for a larger battery. The lower-end iPhone 16e with the C1 modem has the longest battery life of any 6.1-inch iPhone model ever, although that device is obviously not as thin as the iPhone 17 Air is expected to be.

All in all, there is a still a lack of certainty about the iPhone 17 Air's battery life, with rumors currently conflicting. The device is not expected to be released until September, so hopefully some additional reports will help to paint a clearer picture.

Article Link: Will the iPhone 17 Air Have Good Battery Life? Here's What Rumors Say
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/09/iphone-17-air-battery-life-rumors/
Is there an engineering/technology reason why Apple couldn't redesign its phones so as to eliminate the "camera bump" and use the extra space for a bigger battery?

I can't imagine that there's a huge market for people who want a slim phone that needs an external battery in order to be truly usable. But what constitutes "slim" anyway? In real world use, a phone is as thin as its thickest point, not its thinnest point. So why not optimize for maximum battery life instead of making the phone unbalanced by thinning the non-camera area?
 
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iPhones have generally had better battery life in recent years. They used to be atrocious.

But I think there is still a long way to go. Sometimes I wish there was actually a software feature to restrict brightness of screen to 50 percent, processing to x of maximum etc

The screen is especially a battery hog in sunlight and I can actually see if even if it’s not on full brightness. But on auto it goes to full brightness and the battery life can be impacted massively unless you manually adjust etc

More fine grained control for users who wish to adjust such features would be great. They have already added a lot of info and features for battery management in latest iOS versions.

I suspect this would help the iPhone 17 air.
 
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It's the first generation and smaller and thinner than the existing Pro Max. It's almost certain the battery will be worse than other iPhones.
 
Sadly, I expect people to just accept this when it should be customer uproar to release a phone with less battery life instead of more just to make it thinner by a negligible amount and then create a profitable solution to the problem with upsell a battery pack!

Personally I don't care about thinness. I just want a decent battery life as the air + battery pack will be thicker than a regular phone and likely more expensive!

Bravo Apple. People will actually buy this ans buy into the advertising of super thin naked phone when reality is a thick case + battery.
 
Billy_Bob said:
Is there an engineering/technology reason why Apple couldn't redesign its phones so as to eliminate the "camera bump" and use the extra space for a bigger battery?

I can't imagine that there's a huge market for people who want a slim phone that needs an external battery in order to be truly usable. But what constitutes "slim" anyway? In real world use, a phone is as thin as its thickest point, not its thinnest point. So why not optimize for maximum battery life instead of making the phone unbalanced by thinning the non-camera area?
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Agreed on many points (a phone is as thin as its thickest point, weird concept to add a battery case to a thin phone) but one, the use of the camera bump height : people using a protective case actually benefit from the camera bump... the case allows to balance the phone without making it thicker. A completely flat phone (for increased battery) + a protective case would end up being thicker than a phone with a bump.
 
It will have the "worst" battery life of this year's lineup of iPhones, obviously, but it won't have bad battery life. It will probably meet or exceed iPhone 16's battery life.

I'm excited for it. It represents a good direction for iPhone design that prioritizes holding the thing, something a mobile phone should have as design priority #1. It also sounds like the iPhone Ultra will be chonk with tons of battery life, so people who prioritize that can have that too. I don't need 3 days of battery life in a phone, I have a charger, and an outlet. But I do need to hold it to use it, and there is nothing more awkward than holding a current iPhone.
 
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Billy_Bob said:
Is there an engineering/technology reason why Apple couldn't redesign its phones so as to eliminate the "camera bump" and use the extra space for a bigger battery?

I can't imagine that there's a huge market for people who want a slim phone that needs an external battery in order to be truly usable. But what constitutes "slim" anyway? In real world use, a phone is as thin as its thickest point, not its thinnest point. So why not optimize for maximum battery life instead of making the phone unbalanced by thinning the non-camera area?
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You're super confused about what actually matters.

No one cares about the camera bump. And the battery life achieved more than good enough status years ago. Most people end the day with something like 20-50% battery left, and then put it on the charger while they sleep.

This idea that they need to have 2 or 3 days worth of battery and that all other design considerations need to be put aside for this is just ludicrous and not representative of anything in the real world. The design priority for a device that you carry around with you should be portability. Continuously making it bigger and heavier and more and more fragile and awkward is the opposite of that priority. iPhone Air is a modest but important step back toward something better. It will still need a case in order to be usable, but at least once it is put in a case it will still be net slimmer and lighter than before, contributing greatly to its comfort in the hand and portability.
 
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haunebu said:
Nobody is asking for a thinner phone. How about a new form factor? Is there any innovation at all left in this company?
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Apple pushing the limits on device thinness will lead to benefits for all of its products. Kind of like how the innovations that enabled the MacBook Air eventually made their way into all Apple laptops. Pushing the envelope will result in better products.

As far as new form factors go, even if you think an iPhone Air isn't a new form factor, what exactly do you want? Foldable phone? Well, having experience designing a really thin phone seems like it would be particularly useful if you want to have a foldable.
 
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I'm not sure if I am a customer for the Air but so far as the battery life, I charge to 80% currently using the battery settings and make it through the day with about 20-30% left on a 15 Pro Max. I would be fine with the expected life if I let it charge to 100% and didn't change anything. My phone is not the center of things the way it once was. With two iPads, a mini and Pro, an Apple Watch, and a MAC my time is divided between devices depending on activity and time of day. The phone is more or less the conduit for communication either as the device itself or as a feed to my other devices. Maybe I should consider the Air to lighten my pocket further.
 
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GioGiusi said:
You're super confused about what actually matters.

No one cares about the camera bump. And the battery life achieved more than good enough status years ago. Most people end the day with something like 20-50% battery left, and then put it on the charger while they sleep.
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I don't know how you came up with "no one cares about the camera bump". It's the biggest complaint I read and hear about.
 
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