What determines long battery life? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What used to be a pain-point in early iPhones, we’ve seen Apple make some huge strides in battery life in recent years. This is thanks to improvements in both battery capacity<\/strong>, processors<\/strong>, and even software optimizations<\/strong>, all of which play a role in how long your iPhone lasts in between charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what plays the biggest role in determining long battery life? Although it’s hard to argue that battery capacity — or battery size — is the easiest way for manufacturers to extend battery life, it’s not always so cut and dry. In fact, it’s only because of more power efficient processors that your iPhone can last a full day and then some. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We saw this back with the debut of the A10 Fusion processor in the iPhone 7, which featured two high-performance when you’re using the phone, and two low-power cores that dramatically increased standby time while the screen is off. Since the vast majority of your day isn’t spent staring at your smartphone, low-power cores are a great way to prolong battery life while the phone was in your pocket or otherwise not in use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Software can also play a role, with new updates that not only add new battery saving features like low power mode, location permissions, or Dark Mode (which uses darker UI colors that require OLED displays to use less power), but Apple can also optimize CPU performance based on battery health. Since battery degradation is normal over time, you might want to shop for newer iPhones or those with higher battery health percentages if you’re looking for the longest battery life possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Battery life isn’t really something that can be easily measured — since everyone uses their phone differently — whether it’s playing games, watching videos, or snapping photos, or browsing the web. This is why Apple rates battery life based on a somewhat standardized video playback score. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now this doesn’t tell us exactly<\/em> how long we can expect an iPhone will last between charges, but it does give us a general metric we can use to compare iPhones to each other when it comes to battery life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n By playing a constantly looping video, this will give you pure screen-on-time and is a good indicator of a moderate use case. Heavy users may see less time, while most people can expect far better results with mixed usage where their iPhone sits in their pocket the majority of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using our handy graph, it’s easy to see that the both the iPhone 11 Pro Max<\/a><\/strong> and iPhone 12 Pro Max<\/a><\/strong> offer the best iPhone battery life with a staggering 20-hour<\/strong> video playback rating. This not only has to do with newer more advanced processors, but these phones offer the highest capacity batteries thanks to the larger phone sizes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n iPhone 12 Pro Max prices start at $985<\/a> on Swappa, while the iPhone 11 Pro Max averages a more reasonable $723<\/a>. Considering these are Apple’s top-of-the-line models, not everyone can afford that kind of premium pricing. If you don’t have the money to spend on Apple’s latest and greatest, you may want to go with something a bit cheaper… <\/p>\n\n\n\nBattery capacity (duh)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Processor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Software<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Apple’s video playback rating<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Which iPhone has the best battery life? <\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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