This is why Apple expects improved battery life on 5G iPhones even after cutting battery sizes
There was a time when the Apple iPhone was known for its poor to fair battery life. iPhone users were depicted as wall huggers in a hilarious Samsung television commercial that showed them at an airport looking for any outlet to plug into. But last year Apple added as much as an additional hour of battery life to the iPhone 11 compared to the iPhone XR; the latter had the best battery life on any iPhone model at that time. The company also added four and five additional hours of battery life to the iPhone 11 Pro (vs. the iPhone XS) and iPhone 11 Pro Max (vs. the iPhone XS Max), respectively. As anyone with an iPhone 11 Pro Max can attest to, the battery life on the device is superb.
Apple is counting on the 5nm A14 Bionic chipset to help improve the battery life on the iPhone 12 series
So what does Apple have in mind for the battery capacities on the iPhone 12 series? First of all, the battery is going to need to do some heavy lifting. Powering up 5G connectivity is a heavy-duty task itself, and if the "Pro" models sport a 120Hz refresh rate as rumored, trying to make scrolling and animations buttery smooth requires the consumption of energy-and lots of it. After all, at 120Hz the display is updated 120 times per second.
Nearly two weeks ago, we saw My Smart Price reveal what they believed to be the size of the battery packs for the three different iPhone 12 screen sizes. We told you that based on certifications and other leaks, the battery lineup for the 2020 5G iPhone models looked like this:
| Phone model | Rumored battery capacity | Change from comparable 2019 model |
|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone 12 (A2471) | 2227mAh | -883mAh |
| Apple iPhone 12 Max | 2775mAh | N/A |
| Apple iPhone 12 Pro (A2431) | 2775mAh | -271mAh |
| Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max (A2466) | 3687mAh | -282mAh |
A filing made to regulatory agency SafetyKorea also revealed that a 2775mAh battery is going to be powering at least one of the new handsets. At first, it appeared that both 6.1-inch models (iPhone 12 Max, iPhone 12 Pro) might share the same battery. But just the other day, My Smart Price found on multiple certification websites a new model number for one of the iPhone 12 models, (A2479). That phone will carry a larger 2815mAh battery. Assuming that the battery size on each iPhone is based on screen size, the new lineup will look like this:
| Phone model | Rumored battery capacity | Change from comparable 2019 model |
|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone 12 (A2471) | 2227mAh | -883mAh |
| Apple iPhone 12 Max (A2431) | 2775mAh | N/A |
| Apple iPhone 12 Pro (A2479) | 2815mAh | -231mAh |
| Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max (A2466) | 3687mAh | -282mAh |
Now there is actually a reason for Apple taking a step back and cutting capacities and we will explore them. First, while the 28% decline in battery capacity for the iPhone 12 seems excessive, remember that the screen size of the screen will reportedly be 5.4-inches compared to the 5.8-inch iPhone 11. In addition, the iPhone 12 series will be the first smartphones to be powered by a 5nm chipset. With 15 billion transistors inside the chip compared to the 8.5 billion that are shoehorned inside the A13 Bionic, the new component will be more energy-efficient and just might be able to more than make up the slightly more than 7% decline in battery capacity that could be found on the iPhone 12 Pro series.
This is supposedly the 20W charger that Apple will sell for the iPhone 12 series this year
While Apple will supposedly not include a charging brick in the box of the new iPhone 12 models, a 20W brick has leaked in photographs and will be available as an accessory. Last year, the fast charging 18W brick came out of the box with the iPhone 11 series. Was giving iPhone 11 Pro buyers a $29 charger too much for Apple to layout? With no charger expected to be included in the box this year, you can expect to pay that much if you want to buy a new charger to go with your new phone.
We should point out that some of you have suggested that instead of comparing the 2019 iPhone battery capacities by model, we use the closest screen size. On that basis the chart looks like this
| Phone model | Rumored battery capacity | Change from closest 2019 model based on screen size |
|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone 12 5.4-inch | 2227mAh | -819mAh compared to 5.8-inch iPhone 11 Pro |
| Apple iPhone 12 Max 6.1-inch | 2775mAh | -335mAh compared to 6.1-inch iPhone 11 |
| Apple iPhone 12 Pro 6.1-inch | 2815mAh | -295mAh compared to 6.1-inch iPhone 11 |
| Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max 6.5-inch | 3687 | -282mAh compared to 6.5-inch iPhone 11 Pro Max |
Overall, there isn't that much of a difference and that leads us to believe that Apple is counting on the more cutting-edge 5nm process to hike the battery life on the 2020 models.
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