Leaked photo of iPhone 16 Pro battery shows Apple setting up consumers for a major disappointment

A photograph posted on the "X" site of self-proclaimed Apple collector @KosutamiSan allegedly shows the battery for an "early stage" iPhone 16 Pro prototype. The battery features a "glossy" metal shell and carries a 3355mAh capacity. That is a small 2.5% increase from the 3274mAh capacity battery found inside the iPhone 15 Pro. @KosutamiSan notes that the "current stage" version of the battery now has a frosty metal shell and a redesigned connector.

The inclusion of the metal shell might help with the heat dissipation for the iPhone. Earlier this month, the tipster mentioned that Apple was testing out a graphene thermal system that included the use of a metal shell for the battery. The overheating that affected the iPhone 15 Pro models when the phone was first released was blamed on certain apps like Instagram. When the latter app was opened on certain iPhone 15 Pro models it would raise the temperature of the phone to as high as 116 degrees Fahrenheit.

While overheating, the too-hot-to-touch iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max would see extremely rapid declines in battery life. Tech influencer Marques Brownlee passed along the experience he had in September while using the iPhone 15 Pro to listen to music and browse through Instagram. Brownlee said, "For like 5 minutes the phone just gets really hot and blasts through like 5% battery."

A small 2.5% increase in battery life for the iPhone 16 Pro would actually be a larger increase than the 2.3% hike in battery life that the iPhone 15 Pro model received this year. It would be more than the 2.3% hike in the iPhone 15 Pro Max battery capacity compared to its predecessor. The iPhone 15 battery capacity increased by twice that amount (4.6%) and the iPhone 15 Plus saw its battery capacity rise by 1.4% compared to the iPhone 14 Plus.

We are always hearing some rumors about the capacity of the batteries expected to be used by the next iteration of the iPhone. In July, one particular rumor called for an 18% hike in iPhone 15 battery life, 14% for the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro models, and 12% for the iPhone 15 Pro Max. In reality, the increases in battery capacity were nowhere near the rumored amounts.