While the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a long-lasting battery, the iPhone 15 Pro has battery life that we described simply as “adequate” in our iPhone 15 Pro review. Not bad then, but not overly impressive either, and it sounds like the iPhone 16 Pro might not improve matters much.
You see, images of a battery apparently intended for the iPhone 16 Pro have been leaked by @KosutamiSan (via MacRumors), and they show a capacity of 3,355mAh. For reference, the iPhone 15 Pro has a 3,274mAh battery, so this would be an improvement, but just barely, and would still make for one of the smallest batteries in a modern smartphone.
As such, we’d guess that – if this leak is accurate – there will be no significant changes to the battery life in the iPhone 16 Pro. Just like the iPhone 15 Pro has the same quoted life as the iPhone 14 Pro, despite having a marginally larger battery than its predecessor.
Battery of early stage iPhone 16 Pro ProtoFeatures glossy metal shell, 3355mAh Capacity(13.02Wh), LCV 4.48V(Limited Charge Voltage)Current stage prototype has changed some design: from glossy surface to frosted metal shell, and with a redesigned connector#Apple #appleinternal pic.twitter.com/QvguZ7CrtLNovember 20, 2023
Officially then, the iPhone 16 Pro will probably be quoted for up to around 23 hours of life when watching locally stored videos, or up to 20 hours for streamed video. Based on our experiences with the iPhone 15 Pro, that will likely translate to all-day life for most users, but not much more.
This assumes that the battery leak above is correct of course, which it may not be, as the source doesn’t yet have much of a track record, and it’s early days for iPhone 16 leaks. Indeed, they describe this as an “early stage” iPhone 16 Pro battery, so it could be subject to change anyway.
Cool running
There is some good news here though – if this leak is right – because while the capacity of the battery isn’t much changed, the housing is. The foil casing of batteries in current iPhones has been replaced here by a frosted metal, and that’s a change which could improve the thermal efficiency of the battery.
In other words, it could help keep the phone cooler, which might in turn allow the phone to operate at full power for longer, even when carrying out demanding tasks.
The same source actually recently claimed that the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max would have a metal battery case, so now they’ve provided evidence of this. At the same time, they also said that every iPhone 16 model will include a graphene heat sink, to further improve the thermal efficiency.
With these phones not expected until September of 2024 we’d take this and all rumors with a pinch of salt. But don’t be surprised if – going by the above – the iPhone 16 Pro runs cooler than its predecessor, but doesn’t have much more stamina.
And if you can’t wait until September for a new iPhone, you don’t have to. Black Friday is fast approaching and many of the best iPhones are getting discounted – check out the best Black Friday iPhone deals for all the current offers.
You might also like
- iPhone 16: release date speculation, latest leaks, price predictions and more
- iPhone 16 Pro Max: latest news, rumors and everything we know so far
- Best iPhone: which Apple smartphone reigns supreme?
