As part of his work iPhone 16 Coverage Chinese blogger Jicruan TechCrunch conducted a battery test of the new flagship phones, comparing all iPhone 16 models with the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and some Chinese Android flagships.
Similar to other test results, the iPhone 16 Pro Max set new records for battery life, easily passing 10 hours of battery life in our test. But perhaps more interestingly, the iPhone 15 Pro Max actually gained an extra hour of battery life while running iOS 18, compared to when the same phones ran iOS 17. The iPhone 15 Pro also saw commensurate improvements…
Obviously, all battery tests are somewhat artificial benchmarks, and not necessarily accurate for real-world use. However, it’s worth noting that this test isn’t just something as trivial as repeatedly streaming videos.
Geekerwan’s test includes using WeChat to send text messages, make voice and video calls, browse the web, use Douyin (TikTok), and play Genshin Impact. These activities are repeated sequentially until the battery runs out.
Under these circumstances, iOS 18 helped extend the operating time of older phones.
Previously, the iPhone 15 Pro’s battery lasted 6 hours and 22 minutes. Under iOS 18, it lasted 6 hours and 55 minutes. Similarly, the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s battery went from 7 hours and 56 minutes to 9 hours and 2 minutes.
On the 15 Pro, that means about half an hour more juice, based on these results. On the 15 Pro Max, that’s over an hour more. These gains are free, just by updating your operating system.
As for explaining the big improvement, Geekerwan points to changes in how iOS 18’s task scheduler exploits the performance and efficiency cores in the A17 Pro chip.
In short, iOS 18 appears to wait longer before boosting core processor frequencies. This means the system uses less power for shorter, more intensive tasks, resulting in less battery drain.
(During its September iPhone event, Apple repeatedly acknowledged that iOS 18’s “advanced power management” helps extend the iPhone 16’s battery life. That’s probably what they were referring to.)
Although some benchmark results may be slightly worse due to this change in resource management, in regular use there should be no noticeable difference in system performance.
If you want the best battery life, you should consider upgrading to iPhone 16 Pro MaxThis phone tops the test chart with a battery life of 10 hours and 23 minutes, nearly an hour and a half longer than the iPhone Pro Max running iOS 18. The iPhone 16 Plus also has an industry-leading 10 hours of battery life. The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 die at around 8.5 hours, still easily outpacing their previous-generation competitors.
Watch Geekerwan’s full video here:
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