USB-C iPhone 15: Apple's biggest battery upgrades ever leaving Android in the dust?
This article may contain personal views and opinion from the author.
It’s happening! Well, it’s supposedly (!) happening but “supposedly” is better than nothing…
- iPhone 15 - 3,877 mAh (vs 3,279 mAh on iPhone 14)
- iPhone 15 Pro - 3,650 mAh (vs 3,200 mAh on iPhone 14 Pro)
- iPhone 15 Plus - 4,912 mAh (vs 4,325 mAh on iPhone 14 Plus)
- iPhone 15 Pro Max - 4,852 mAh (vs 4,323 mAh on iPhone 14 Pro Max)
But there’s more! In case you haven’t heard, Apple’s new Pro flagships are also expected to feature the industry-first 3nm chip built in collaboration with Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC - the A17 Bionic. The greater efficiency of the groundbreaking A17 chip and larger batteries in all iPhone 15 models seem extremely promising, because Apple’s iPhones are already leaders in all battery charts.
Considering their conservative (or outright small) batteries, Apple is going big this time around! Or at least bigger. Could iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max leave the Android competition in the dust by lasting even longer than their predecessors? I say let’s evaluate Apple’s chances for total battery takeover right now instead of waiting until September.
Oh, and also… I think the alleged increase in battery size could mean that a few more long-awaited upgrades might be coming to the iPhone. In fact (if they were to happen), those could make an even bigger difference to your daily use than the larger cells. Take the wild cards with a pinch of salt but they sure sound sweet…
Leaving Android in the dust: iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max’s battery life could be 20-30% better than iPhone 14
iPhone 15 Plus is getting a 5,000 mAh battery. Almost. Close enough.
As you can see, according to our battery tests, Apple’s current battery champion, the iPhone 14 Pro Max is about on par with the Galaxy S23 Ultra when it comes to how long you can browse the web - you get about 19h on both. However, iPhone 14 Pro Max gets 2h extra battery life when streaming YouTube videos compared to the Samsung’s flagship, as well as 1.5h extra battery endurance in 3D gaming sessions.
The reason I’m bringing up this comparison is… Well because it’s Apple versus Samsung, but also, because the two most popular flagships also happen to be the longest lasting ones out there right now (save for some gaming phones with much larger batteries).
Battery life improvement in iPhone 15 series compared to iPhone 14 might be greater than expected
iPhone 15 series with 20-30% better battery life compared to iPhone 14? It's not impossible.
- The battery in iPhone 15 is getting 18% larger than the one in iPhone 14
- The battery in iPhone 15 Plus is getting 14% larger than the one in iPhone 14 Plus
- The battery in iPhone 15 Pro is getting 14% larger than the one in iPhone 14 Pro
- The battery in iPhone 15 Pro Max is getting 12% larger than the one in iPhone 14 Pro Max
Simple maths would suggest iPhone 15 should last 18% longer than iPhone 14, while iPhone 15 Plus should last 14% longer than iPhone 15 Plus, and so on… But it’s not all that simple, because we also must take into account the pure efficiency coming with the upgraded chips in iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Apple’s A17 Bionic is expected to be the first 3nm smartphone SoC on the market, which makes it difficult to benchmark against anything else available today. Furthermore, the iPhone 15 series’ overall efficiency could also be affected by the manufacturing nod Apple and TSMC choose to use. Conflicting reports point towards the more efficient (but low-yield) N3B, or the less efficient but easier to manufacture N3E. If you’d like to find out more, take a look at this MacRumors article. It’s nerdy stuff. Like extra nerdy.
But how did I come up with that number? Well, Apple’s future can often be predicted by looking at the company’s past. Remember, iPhone 13 Pro Max had an 18% larger battery than the iPhone 12 Pro Max and although both of Apple's large flagships came with 5nm chips, the 13 Pro Max had dramatically better battery life compared to its predecessor. Our comparison showed an average of 2.5h longer endurance on the 13 Pro.
The noticeably larger batteries and the big jump in processing efficiency should/might contribute to even greater gains in overall battery endurance on iPhone 15 models compared to prior iPhones and, of course, Android flagships like the Galaxy and Pixel. Meanwhile, Samsung and Google wouldn't be exactly thrilled to see this pan out as they’ll need to up their game significantly with the Pixel 8 and Galaxy S24 series. But why not! Competition is what we need anyway.
With all that in mind, don’t forget the vanilla iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are expected to reuse the iPhone 14 Pro’s 5nm A16 bionic chip, skipping the more efficient 3nm A17 Bionic. Of course, this puts Apple’s vanilla flagships for 2023 in a disadvantage but it doesn’t mean the cheaper iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus won’t benefit from the larger batteries Apple’s allegedly preparing. Not at all.
Larger batteries in iPhone 15 series might be hinting at faster wired/wireless charging, Reverse Wireless Charging, and larger MagSafe battery pack for some iPhone 15 models
Could the larger batteries in iPhone 15 mean some models are getting upgrades such as faster wired/wireless charging, or even Reverse Wireless Charging?
Larger batteries are great but what other battery life and charging improvements could iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max bring to the table? I’d like to take a moment and try to predict what the alleged increase in battery size could mean for the rest of the hardware upgrades in iPhone 15… Take it all with a grain of salt.
For example, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of faster wired/MagSafe charging on iPhone 15 compared to iPhone 14. Don’t forget that USB-C is pretty much confirmed to be coming to iPhone 15, which could easily facilitate a long-awaited jump in iPhone charging speeds.
That being said, I wouldn’t get my hopes too high up, as Apple (being Apple) will likely want to keep the same “50% in 30 minutes” charging rule that Tim Cook & Co love so much, meaning the iPhone 15 series’ charging speeds might be upgraded according to the increase in battery size - in other words, just enough. In practice, I don’t expect much more than 30W wired/wireless charging across the entire iPhone 15 lineup.
I often use my MagSafe battery pack to wirelessly charge my (non-Apple) wireless earbuds, and which is why I wish Reverse Wireless Charging would finally come to the iPhone 15. If it was to happen, don’t be surprised if the RWC feature is exclusive to the Pro models. Also, given that the iPhone mini is no longer a priority for Apple, the company could also release a new, larger MagSafe battery pack, which is made to fit the new smallest iPhone, the 6.1-inch iPhone 15.
Another (incredible) upgrade Apple could technically (and finally) bring to some iPhone 15 models is Reverse Wireless Charging, which would allow you to charge accessories like AirPods on the back of iPhone 15. The timing for this long-awaited upgrade seems pretty much perfect as iPhone 14 already supports passthrough charging, meaning the tech is already in development. However, it’s the larger batteries and slight increase in overall thickness of all iPhone 15 models that give me the biggest hopes Reverse Wireless Charging might finally be coming to the iPhone!
The final upgrade I think we might see isn’t technically to the iPhone 15 itself but to the MagSafe battery pack Apple released all the way back in 2021 (and hasn’t upgraded since). If you ask me, a new, larger MagSafe battery pack is quite likely to be released some time this year or in 2024, considering there’s no iPhone mini now. It’s no secret that Apple build the MagSafe battery pack to fit the mini iPhone like a glove but this one’s no longer part of Apple’s long-term plans, meaning the next MagSafe battery pack can get bigger - likely as big as the back of the 6.1-inch iPhone 15 or the (rumored) 6.3-inch iPhone 16.
Looking at the rumored battery sizes and considering all other upgrades coming to iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max, which one looks the most appealing to you? I have a feeling the larger models might be an even bigger hit this year! But we’ll discuss this in a future story.
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