Apple is limiting the maximum battery capacity of the iPhone 18 Pro Max due to shipping requirements. The phone has a battery capacity over 20 watt-hours, which comes with additional shipping requirements. Apple found a clever way to limit the capacity through firmware, but don't worry—when you get your iPhone 18 Pro Max, the battery capacity will be back to normal.
Apple is limiting the maximum battery capacity of the iPhone 18 Pro Max
The iPhone 18 Pro Max features a new "innovative battery-firmware solution" that limits the battery to below 20 Wh. This "Prepare to Ship" feature is pre-activated when the phone comes out of the factory and automatically disabled when you activate your iPhone 18 Pro Max.
iPhone 18 Pro Max offers a huge increase in battery life, in part due to increasing the battery capacity to over 20 watt-hours (Wh). Devices with a single-cell battery over 20 Wh have additional shipping requirements in most countries and regions. To address these requirements, iPhone 18 Pro Max uses an innovative battery-firmware solution that limits battery capacity to below 20 Wh from the time it’s manufactured through its transport from the factory. When you activate your iPhone, the limit is removed and the battery’s full charging capacity is available.
- Apple official support page
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Here comes the interesting part: if you need to ship your iPhone 18 Pro Max for a repair, trade-in, or as a gift to someone, you need to enable this special "Prepare to Ship" mode. Here's how to do it.
How to enable Prepare to Ship on the iPhone 18 Pro Max
The new 'Prepare to Ship' option in the settings menu of the iPhone 18 Pro Max. | Image by Apple
You can get to the Prepare to Ship option by going to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Prepare to Ship. Your iPhone 18 Pro Max may heat up during the process if it needs to discharge the battery to reach the desired threshold.
If you activated the Prepare to Ship feature to repair, trade in, or return, the charge limit of your iPhone 18 Pro Max will be capped at 80 percent for 14 days. After the 14-day period, you can disable Prepare to Ship and enable full charging.
- Apple official support page
When the process is finished, you'll see a "Ready to Ship" status in Settings. If you need to remove the limit, you can do so from the same menu, but there could be a 14-day waiting period before the battery returns to normal, depending on the reason you selected when initially performing the procedure.
What do you think about the new Ready to Ship feature?
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The iPhone 18 Pro Max is safe for air travel
Lithium-ion batteries over 20Wh are subject to stricter shipping requirements. | Image by Epec's Blog
Apple reassures everyone that the iPhone 18 Pro Max is completely safe for air travel, and the limit has been added to save you some money and trouble.
The battery in iPhone 18 Pro Max is safe, including for shipping and air travel. This process is needed only to meet shipping requirements and isn’t required while traveling or for any other iPhone model.
- Apple official support page
Shipping lithium-ion cells over 20 Wh classifies them as fully regulated Class 9 Dangerous Goods, losing the relaxed exemptions that apply to smaller consumer batteries.
This means you need special documents, packaging, and labeling to ship the iPhone 18 Pro Max in a fully charged state without the Ready to Ship feature active.
Mariyan, a tech enthusiast with a background in Nuclear Physics and Journalism, brings a unique perspective to PhoneArena. His childhood curiosity for gadgets evolved into a professional passion for technology, leading him to the role of Editor-in-Chief at PCWorld Bulgaria before joining PhoneArena. Mariyan's interests range from mainstream Android and iPhone debates to fringe technologies like graphene batteries and nanotechnology. Off-duty, he enjoys playing his electric guitar, practicing Japanese, and revisiting his love for video games and Haruki Murakami's works.
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