This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max.
If you are getting a flagship phone, you would expect it to excel in all the departments. It should come with a powerful processor, a high-quality camera, a big battery, and long software support.
Apple checks most of these boxes in its smartphones, but the battery department is one area in which I think it lags behind its competitors. The trend will apparently continue this year as well if the leak regarding the iPhone 18 Pro battery capacity pans out to be true.
Battery capacity of iPhone 18 Pro
If you have been following our coverage on iPhones recently, then you might be aware that Apple is expected to only release the Pro phones this year along with the completely new iPhone Ultra. The base iPhone 18 would most likely come out next year. Since the entire focus would be on the Pro phones, I am really hopeful that we would see some really big upgrades in them in almost every department; this includes the battery capacity as well.
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The battery size is indeed getting bigger, but any guesses by how much… 36 mAh. No, I didn’t forget a zero or two in that figure. According to a popular tipster, Digital Chat Station, the US version of the iPhone 18 Pro would come with a 4,288 mAh battery, which is basically a 36 mAh upgrade over its predecessor.
The Chinese version, which, unlike the US model, comes with a SIM tray, will feature a 4,056 mAh battery, which is 68 mAh more than last year's iPhone 17 Pro. It's worth remembering that the unavailability of a SIM tray is allowing the tech giant to offer a slightly bigger battery in the US model.
Apple would want to compensate using the new A20 Pro chip
The iPhone 18 Pro is expected to be powered by the completely new A20 Pro chip that would be built on TSMC 2 nm. It will also likely feature the C2 modem.
In addition to these two, the upcoming phones would definitely be more optimized. The upcoming Apple Pro phone will definitely rely on these three factors to offer a slightly better battery life than last year's Pro phones.
What's your biggest reason to purchase the iPhone 18 Pro if it's not the battery?
No real battery upgrade at all
Different color options of iPhone 18 Pro. | Image by Macworld
With everything said above, it's time to ask the main question: when will Apple actually realize that bigger battery capacity is actually a big attraction these days? It was in 2021 that the company crossed the 4000 mAh mark with the release of the iPhone 13 Pro Max.
Five years later, we are still seeing iPhones coming with a battery capacity of between 4000 mAh and 4500 mAh. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is the only exception here that features just over a 5000 mAh battery.
I agree that software optimization and other hardware elements like the processor and modem also play a major role in determining the battery life of a device. However, it's high time that Apple adopt silicon carbon technology, especially if you keep some of its competitors, like OnePlus, in the picture that are offering more than 7000 mAh cells in their phones.
For reference, almost every other Chinese brand is using silicon carbon technology, which is better in almost all areas than the lithium-ion battery used in iPhones. For instance, it allows manufacturers to offer more capacity without affecting the dimensions of the cell. Saying that silicon carbon technology is still new wouldn't be right, as it's already been many years since it has been used in different Android smartphones.
We might see iPhones with big batteries in 2027
Honestly, it now feels disheartening to see that Apple is not at all listening to its fans and continues to offer small battery capacity in its phones. 6000-7000 mAh has become standard in almost all the Chinese Android phones, with phones like Honor Power 2 even crossing the 10000 mAh mark. And then here is Apple, who is so in love with the 4000 mAh figure that it hasn't moved on from it since it was first introduced in 2021.
Currently, it's hard for me to say that, but considering that the company has always taken a conservative approach when adopting new technology, I would not expect a very drastic leap. If I had to take a wild guess, then I would say that the tech giant would aim for something around 6000 mAh.
The iPhone 17 Pro offered excellent battery life in our in‑house testing thanks to its software optimization and A19 Pro chip. I can't imagine how long an iPhone with a larger cell capacity would run if combined with Apple's powerful processor and software optimizations.
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Aman Kumar is a news writer at PhoneArena covering Google Pixel phones, Android features, AI-powered smartphone tools, and mobile tech news. Before joining PhoneArena, he spent over five years writing about consumer technology for publications like MakeUseOf, How-To Geek, and Guiding Tech. His current daily drivers are the Pixel 10 and Samsung Galaxy S26 Plus, while his red iPhone SE (2nd gen) remains a personal favorite. Aman also appreciates bold smartphone experiments and still considers the Nokia N-Gage one of the industry’s most iconic designs.
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