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Check out the battery life! > iPhone 16e has the best battery life ever on a 6.1-inch iPhone, lasting up to six hours longer than iPhone 11 and up to 12 hours
by dfabulich 2y ago
Check out the battery life!
> iPhone 16e has the best battery life ever on a 6.1-inch iPhone, lasting up to six hours longer than iPhone 11 and up to 12 hours longer than all generations of iPhone SE.
Their page comparing models claims the new 16e gets "26 hours video playback."
iPhone 16e: 26 hours
iPhone 16: 22 hours
iPhone 15: 20 hours
iPhone 14: 20 hours
iPhone 13: 19 hours
iPhone 12: 17 hours
iPhone 11: 17 hours
The new battery life seems to be mostly due to their new Apple C1 cellular modem, replacing the Qualcomm modems in earlier models.
> Expanding the benefits of Apple silicon, C1 is the first modem designed by Apple and the most power-efficient modem ever on an iPhone, delivering fast and reliable 5G cellular connectivity. Apple silicon — including C1 — the all-new internal design, and the advanced power management of iOS 18 all contribute to extraordinary battery life.
- TransAtlToonz 2y agoWow. This is fantastic. This is the first time in nearly fifteen years they've had a feature I've actually wanted to purchase.
- throwfaraway4 2y agoPartly due to being able to fit a bigger battery with the smaller modem size https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFuyX1XgJFg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFuyX1XgJFg
- tempaccount420 2y agotimestamped: https://youtu.be/mFuyX1XgJFg?t=233 https://youtu.be/mFuyX1XgJFg?t=233
- Analemma_ 2y agoIt's possible the battery chemistry has also changed. In the last 12-18 months, a bunch of Android phones have gotten large battery capacity upgrades, apparently thanks to silicon-carbon anodes being mature enough for mass production. Presumably Apple is now doing the sam thing.
- benterix 2y ago> In the last 12-18 months, a bunch of Android phones have gotten large battery capacity upgrades Can you give some examples? I'd like to test one out but I'm not buying the most recent product as a rule.
- Analemma_ 2y agoThe OnePlus 13 and Oppo Find X8 both got 10% capacity upgrades over their previous iterations but with the same size/weight. The Honor Magic V2 also has a huge battery despite being a very slim foldable (5,000 mAh, compared to 3,000-3,500 on the ones from Samsung and Google).
- gbil 2y agoOneplus 13 with lithium-silicon battery tech. This is the new tech which allows for higher capacity at the same size as before.
- cptcobalt 2y agoDo signs point toward Apple adopting a unique, new cell chemistry for what will be their high-volume budget product for the next few years? It would have probably been a marketing line if so, similar to the C1 modem. A bigger battery doesn't imply new tech. (Yes, the phone expensive now, but these SE-tier phones typically get discounts pretty quickly after release through carriers/non-apple retail; and then a bigger & formal sale price decrease when the next phone generation comes out.)
- DrBenCarson 2y agoThe overlap of the “cares about battery chemistry” and “purchases the lowest tier device” is probably close to 0 The C1 modem gets a line because Wall Street has seen that expense for a decade now, so this is a “win” for them. Battery chemistry is completely 3rd party, so they’ll claim the battery life improvement
- jerlam 2y ago
- hnburnsy 2y agoIts been a long slog for Apple, they have been working on this since 2018, and they had to keep extending its supply agreements with Qualcomm... "Inside Apple’s Spectacular Failure to Build a Key Part for Its New iPhones" >The 2018 marching orders from Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook to design and build a modem chip—a part that connects iPhones to wireless carriers—led to the hiring of thousands of engineers. The goal was to sever Apple’s grudging dependence on Qualcomm, a longtime chip supplier that dominates the modem market. The obstacles to finishing the chip were largely of Apple’s own making, according to former company engineers and executives familiar with the project. Apple had planned to have its modem chip ready to use in the new iPhone models. But tests late last year found the chip was too slow and prone to overheating. Its circuit board was so big it would take up half an iPhone, making it unusable. https://kanebridgenews.com/inside-apples-spectacular-failure-to-build-a-key-part-for-its-new-iphones/ https://kanebridgenews.com/inside-apples-spectacular-failure... [2023]
- insane_dreamer 2y agoApple managed to design its own state-of-the-art CPUs. I wouldn't have imagined that designing its own modem would be such a difficult challenge?
- ksec 2y agoExcept making a decent modem is indeed harder than start of art CPU. People loves to shit on Qualcomm but dont appreciate that amount of work involved.
- dmitrygr 2y agos/work/patent blackmail/g
- uticus 2y agoI would buy that a decent modem is harder than many CPU designs, maybe even most. But harder than state-of-the-art? Surely not, have you seen the complexity? And even CPUs (esp state of art) have to worry about radio effects, as in avoiding internally and across chipset.
- melvinmelih 2y ago26 hours of battery life but you still have to charge it with a cable (they didn't add MagSafe). This might be a deal breaker for me…
- whitepoplar 2y agoIt has wireless charging, just not MagSafe.
- melvinmelih 2y agoYeah but the MagSafe charger I've spent $150 on doesn't work without the magnetic part.
- 4fterd4rk 2y agoI assume it's some elaborate mounting thing if you spent that much on it, but actually a magsafe charger will act as a standard Qi charger as well.
- hollandheese 2y agoYep. Switched from iPhone to Android but still use my magsafe charger on my bed stand for the new phone.
- M3L0NM4N 2y agoI wonder if one of those MagSafe cases that basically "passthrough" the MagSafe magnets in the phone would work.
- bdhcuidbebe 2y agoMy Nokia 3310 lasted for over a week before recharge in 2000.
- Retr0id 2y agoBut how many hours of video playback?
- Lammy 2y agoAs many as I do on the smartphone I own in 2025
- bdhcuidbebe 2y agoMy iPhone today last for less than a day while I dont watch any video on it, In fact, i barely use it currently, and it still drains batteries in no time. And yes, I disabled most background services and location services and run screen on low brightness - all the popular hacks to reduce battery usage.
- apparent 2y agoHow old is your phone/battery? When you say less than a day, do you mean 24 hrs or the period of time you're awake?
- bdhcuidbebe 2y agoiPhone 13 mini, i mean 24 hours
- ndiddy 2y agoOf course your phone has a short runtime, it both has a small battery and it's 3 years old so the battery's worn out. One of the main reasons why small phones remain a niche is that improvements in battery technology have been far outpaced by improvements in SoCs, so the easiest way to improve a device's battery life vs. the older model is to make it larger so it can fit a bigger battery. Even when it was new, the regular iPhone 13 had a 3220 mAh battery while the 13 mini had a 2400 mAh battery, despite both having the same processor. You end up sacrificing battery life to achieve the small size.
- mdasen 2y agoIn the video, they did say that the C1 is the "most power-efficient modem ever in an iPhone." They also said that they have an "all new internal design for iPhone 16e that has been optimized for a larger battery." Part of it is certainly the modem, but part of it is also likely to be the larger battery. I'm really curious to see both how the Apple C1 performs and also how they changed up the internals for a larger battery and how much larger that battery is.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- enragedcacti 2y agoI'm sure the modem contributes, but IMO the battery life is probably mostly from just having a bigger battery due to the new internal design (and maybe chemistry changes). The new design moves the frame's structure into the middle of the sandwich, making it more rigid and allowing them to make the frame thinner to pack in more battery. Lots of people are mad about losing magsafe but in magsafe phones the magnets sit flush with the frame in a huge circular cutout just below the back glass. The hole weakens the frame so the frame has to be thicker because of it. I don't think there is really a world where this phone gets 6 more hours of battery life while still having magsafe and fitting into the existing shape of the iPhone 14. https://youtu.be/mFuyX1XgJFg?t=227 https://youtu.be/mFuyX1XgJFg?t=227
- snailmailstare 2y agoSounds reasonable, but why can't we just compare it, the mAh of this phone's battery is a secret or something?
- selcuka 2y ago> the mAh of this phone's battery is a secret or something It can easily be measured from the time required to fully charge the phone (when turned off), and continuously monitoring the power it draws from the charger.
- cirrus3 2y agoI'm pretty sure it isn't even that complicated. Reviewers just open it up and just look at the battery. The exact mAh is only secret until the first non-Apple person who wants to know gets one.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- enragedcacti 2y agoApple generally doesn't publish their battery specs so we'll have to wait for it to get into reviewers hands
- martinsnow 2y agoModem has always been a pain point since it's an entire SoC that had to be shielded from the rest of the system. Apple producing their own modem is a giant undertaking.
- SirMaster 2y agoSo the video test is done with the video streaming over cellular data? Otherwise what would a video playback time spec have to do with the efficiency of the cellular radio?
- seec 2y agoI am wondering exactly the same. Maybe the standby costs? The chip needs to always have power to be able to receive the radio waves, it uses less power in that way but still quite a bit, I guess. The surprise is how much power that is. It's either that or misleading marketing. I know Apple struggled to make this modem, so maybe it's still not great when it comes to standby power consumption. Since it's Apple we will only know after quite a bit of independent testing...
- DrBenCarson 2y agoPhones maintain a cellular connection even if most data is being transmitted over WiFi at any given moment Cellular modems are constantly reading and broadcasting messages to the cellular network unless they are explicitly turned off
- FollowingTheDao 2y agoBut they use much more power when they are receiving data.
- DrBenCarson 2y agoSure. But they also use a massive amount of power when they’re out of range so constantly searching for the network Turning off your modem is second only to turning off your screen if you’re looking to save battery
- FollowingTheDao 2y agoNot nearly close enough to when they are receiving data, especially video. When actively receiving data, a cellular modem will use significantly more power than when idle, with the exact amount depending on factors like network strength, data rate, and the specific modem technology, but typically ranging from several hundred milliwatts to a few watts
- wilg 2y agoFairly misleading, since according to the comparison on their site (https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/?modelList=iphone-16,iphone-16-pro,iphone-16e https://www.apple.com/iphone/compare/?modelList=iphone-16,ip...) the slightly-bigger 6.3 inch iPhone 16 Pro gets 27 hours of video playback vs the 16e's 26 hours. (Regular iPhone 16 is 22 though.)
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- tgma 2y agoNot sure how much modem is contributing here. My guess is it is primarily due to the lack of ProMotion. 16e has a 60Hz display.
- iknowstuff 2y agoAs does iPhone 16.
- tgma 2y agoAh right. I stand corrected.
- ffiirree 2y agoThere's maybe other simplicity things that make it more battery efficient, like no dynamic island, only one camera, no magsafe, maybe stuff like that. But I am not an expert or anything