4 ms·

Turning off 5G adds hours of battery life to iPhones, iPads

50 points by tpowell 5y ago

tpowell 5y ago
"The new SE lasted nearly an hour longer on 4G than on 5G, while the new iPad Air and iPhone 13 Mini went for about 1.5 additional hours. And while the iPhone 13 Pro ran a remarkable 12 hours and 50 minutes on 5G, it still lasted about 2.5 hours longer on LTE."
tormock 5y ago
reminds me of when 4g started...
yuppie_scum 5y ago
5G is a pretty big sham.
- longtimelistnr 5y ago
  I’m not sure if it’s worth all this hassle but I will say it’s a big speed upgrade especially on the Verizon 5g UW. Indistinguishable from great wifi
- kalleboo 5y ago
  As was LTE before it ("it's not even actually 4G, that's supposed to be 100-1000 Mbit") And UMTS 3G before that ("it's just for video calls, who wants that anyway")
  - JumpCrisscross 5y ago
    LTE underdelivered. But it delivered nonetheless. It’s undeniably superior to 3G, which was itself undeniably superior to its predecessor.
    - kalleboo 5y ago
      When LTE first came it it was usually around the same speed or slower than the fully-deployed, well-developed HSDPA network where I lived, meanwhile battery life was much worse. It took a few years for it to truly deliver.
    - Nextgrid 5y ago
      The problem with any cellular data network is the pricing model. The model of a capped amount of data per month (or worse, exorbitant fees if you go over) means a lot of use-cases aren't possible or lead to "data anxiety", while being a poor solution to congestion because data caps don't do anything to discourage simultaneous usage in crowded areas. A pricing model of charging for bandwidth tiers would open up more use-cases as your cellular connection becomes truly unlimited just like your home connection is with no risk of extra fees.
  - tui_smuggler 5y ago
    I'm no expert but LTE was/is a significant step up in power efficiency. Game changer for iot devices for sure.
    - kalleboo 5y ago
      The protocol had the capability for it but the chipsets in the initial smartphones were less power-efficient.
- vegai_ 5y ago
  That sham is delivering 300-600Mbps to my house in an area where the best earlier connection was reaching 10Mbps on a good day.
tinus_hn 5y ago
I do hope they checked YouTube gives them the same stream on 5G as on 4G; it’s not in the article.
minimaxir 5y ago
In San Francisco, I do have access to 5G Ultrawideband with my iPhone 13 Pro and can confirm I get about gigabit download speeds...which doesn't matter much in practice since an iPhone isn't a bulk-download device. That said, battery life is still pretty fine for general use.
Mo3 5y ago
That’s not really news, was the same time when LTE was in its child stages. I have country wide 5G here and while it doesn’t really matter in general use, I love using it for video or voice calls on Slack etc. The latency difference is very notable. Thankfully iOS devices also have the ability to only switch on 5G when deemed necessary, which is sometimes a little wonky but generally works okay and will turn off 5G when the display is off.
squarefoot 5y ago
What is the number of 5G capable towers compared to 4G ones in that area? If the number of 5G ones was significantly lower, the phone could have been forced to link to a farther one using more power.
poffins 5y ago
This is because of ENDC (E-UTRAN New Radio – Dual Connectivity) as carriers transition to SA (Stand Alone) in 5G. Back in the LTE days, you only had one transmitter. With ENDC in 5G, you have two transmitters, one LTE as an anchor and another for 5G. The sooner we get to SA, we can drop the LTE anchor and go back to a single 5G TX with however many DLCA bands you want for UEs. Twice the transmitters, twice the current = worse battery life.
- zinekeller 5y ago
  While this is indeed true (which makes the problem worse), paltry run times are also reported in areas where 5GSA systems have been already deployed, so I'm just chalking this to plain old early adopters' tax.
- ksec 5y ago
  Yes and then we have to figure out which Modem ( early 5G modem? ) they are using and and spectrum available as well as signal tuning went into the tower and possibly 60 thousands other factors. It is tiring. May be we should just let the media keep spinning whatever they want the public to believe. But at least the mmWave fad is finally dying, the truth will always arrive, no matter how hard media tries to hide it.
lloydatkinson 5y ago
When I upgrade to a newer iPhone I'll probably just force it to use 4G only, I mean, really what's the point otherwise?
0xdeadb00f 5y ago
Is this not obvious to everyone by this point? Putting your phone in airplane mode, and generally restricting it's radio usage reduces battery life? Shocker!
- detaro 5y ago
  Switching to a different radio standard is quite different from "putting your phone in airplane mode", and not obvious (nor given) that it would save power. "Race to idle" logic can also apply to radio, so it very depends on the usage patterns and specific details.

50 points by tpowell 5y ago

"The new SE lasted nearly an hour longer on 4G than on 5G, while the new iPad Air and iPhone 13 Mini went for about 1.5 additional hours. And while the iPhone 13 Pro ran a remarkable 12 hours and 50 minutes on 5G, it still lasted about 2.5 hours longer on LTE."

tormock 5y ago

reminds me of when 4g started...

yuppie_scum 5y ago

5G is a pretty big sham.

longtimelistnr 5y ago
I’m not sure if it’s worth all this hassle but I will say it’s a big speed upgrade especially on the Verizon 5g UW. Indistinguishable from great wifi
kalleboo 5y ago
As was LTE before it ("it's not even actually 4G, that's supposed to be 100-1000 Mbit") And UMTS 3G before that ("it's just for video calls, who wants that anyway")
- JumpCrisscross 5y ago
  LTE underdelivered. But it delivered nonetheless. It’s undeniably superior to 3G, which was itself undeniably superior to its predecessor.
  - kalleboo 5y ago
    When LTE first came it it was usually around the same speed or slower than the fully-deployed, well-developed HSDPA network where I lived, meanwhile battery life was much worse. It took a few years for it to truly deliver.
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    The problem with any cellular data network is the pricing model. The model of a capped amount of data per month (or worse, exorbitant fees if you go over) means a lot of use-cases aren't possible or lead to "data anxiety", while being a poor solution to congestion because data caps don't do anything to discourage simultaneous usage in crowded areas. A pricing model of charging for bandwidth tiers would open up more use-cases as your cellular connection becomes truly unlimited just like your home connection is with no risk of extra fees.
- tui_smuggler 5y ago
  I'm no expert but LTE was/is a significant step up in power efficiency. Game changer for iot devices for sure.
  - kalleboo 5y ago
    The protocol had the capability for it but the chipsets in the initial smartphones were less power-efficient.
vegai_ 5y ago
That sham is delivering 300-600Mbps to my house in an area where the best earlier connection was reaching 10Mbps on a good day.

tinus_hn 5y ago

I do hope they checked YouTube gives them the same stream on 5G as on 4G; it’s not in the article.

minimaxir 5y ago

In San Francisco, I do have access to 5G Ultrawideband with my iPhone 13 Pro and can confirm I get about gigabit download speeds...which doesn't matter much in practice since an iPhone isn't a bulk-download device. That said, battery life is still pretty fine for general use.

Mo3 5y ago

That’s not really news, was the same time when LTE was in its child stages. I have country wide 5G here and while it doesn’t really matter in general use, I love using it for video or voice calls on Slack etc. The latency difference is very notable. Thankfully iOS devices also have the ability to only switch on 5G when deemed necessary, which is sometimes a little wonky but generally works okay and will turn off 5G when the display is off.

squarefoot 5y ago

What is the number of 5G capable towers compared to 4G ones in that area? If the number of 5G ones was significantly lower, the phone could have been forced to link to a farther one using more power.

poffins 5y ago

This is because of ENDC (E-UTRAN New Radio – Dual Connectivity) as carriers transition to SA (Stand Alone) in 5G. Back in the LTE days, you only had one transmitter. With ENDC in 5G, you have two transmitters, one LTE as an anchor and another for 5G. The sooner we get to SA, we can drop the LTE anchor and go back to a single 5G TX with however many DLCA bands you want for UEs. Twice the transmitters, twice the current = worse battery life.

zinekeller 5y ago
While this is indeed true (which makes the problem worse), paltry run times are also reported in areas where 5GSA systems have been already deployed, so I'm just chalking this to plain old early adopters' tax.
ksec 5y ago
Yes and then we have to figure out which Modem ( early 5G modem? ) they are using and and spectrum available as well as signal tuning went into the tower and possibly 60 thousands other factors. It is tiring. May be we should just let the media keep spinning whatever they want the public to believe. But at least the mmWave fad is finally dying, the truth will always arrive, no matter how hard media tries to hide it.

lloydatkinson 5y ago

When I upgrade to a newer iPhone I'll probably just force it to use 4G only, I mean, really what's the point otherwise?

0xdeadb00f 5y ago

Is this not obvious to everyone by this point? Putting your phone in airplane mode, and generally restricting it's radio usage reduces battery life? Shocker!

detaro 5y ago
Switching to a different radio standard is quite different from "putting your phone in airplane mode", and not obvious (nor given) that it would save power. "Race to idle" logic can also apply to radio, so it very depends on the usage patterns and specific details.