Thoughts on iPhone 12 Pro Battery Life

I’ve been keen to see how the iPhone 12 Pro’s battery life would compare to previous generation iPhones. In my mind this is one of the most important features of a phone today–all day battery life. I’ve noticed Apple reports the 12 Pro gets 1 hour less video playback time over the 11 Pro (understand that’s not all day battery life, but its the best proxy we have). That is disappointing. Did they not learn their lesson from the small batteries in the X and XS? With the XR and 11 series, I thought they had finally come to their senses and put a decent sized battery into the device rather than shaving it off just for aesthetics and weight. I’ll take a thicker, heavier phone with all day battery life over thin any day. Why are they starting to skimp again with the 12?

My wife has an iPhone X and she’s constantly tethered to a charging cable. The X has never been particularly good with battery life. Age is certainly a factor at this point, but it is still in the upper 80s of health. Was thinking of upgrading her just so she wouldn’t feel so tied to the charger, but maybe I need to snatch up an 11 Pro before they’re gone. Looks like the 12 may be a disappointment over the 11, at least from a battery life perspective.

Curious to see what others think about this battery life/capacity reversal and reviews on this.

Conversation 5 comments

  • Chris_Kez

    Premium Member
    14 October, 2020 - 12:12 pm

    <p>Battery life is hard to speculate on. Who knows how well the new A14 processors are optimized, or how well they work with iOS 14, or how efficient the new screens are, or how well the antennas work. I have an iPhone X and I easily get all-day battery life with 3+ hours of screen time every day. The biggest battery killer for me has been poor cell reception. There were a few places I regularly traveled to where I had poor reception and the phone was constantly hunting for signal. At first I was puzzled because I wasn't really doing anything different, but eventually I made the connection. If you're stuck someplace between towers or on the edge, you might not even realize it. I'm fortunate that this was not the case at home, otherwise I'd be looking for another provider.</p>

    • JE

      14 October, 2020 - 3:59 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#586361">In reply to Chris_Kez:</a></em></blockquote><p>I second this. Perfectly explained. I also have the X purchased at launch and still easily get all day battery. You want to have your phone connected to wifi wherever (safely) possible to reduce battery drain. Otherwise if you’ve got poor cell signal it’s ramping up the antenna usage to maintain connectivity.</p><p>Also, you walked right into this with the cable complaints, do yourself a favour and invest in a couple wireless chargers for home, office and car. The need to be conscious of the battery at all disappears when you’re regularly trickle charging it in between use. Particularly now with the magsafe announcements. Going wireless is the solution and game charger for your entire comment here.</p>

    • jwpear

      Premium Member
      14 October, 2020 - 8:50 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#586361">In reply to Chris_Kez:</a></em></blockquote><p>Understand we don't know the efficiency or full story yet, but all things being equal, the 12 gets less video playback time than the 11 per Apple. That's worrisome. I do hope you're right and my worry is unwarranted.</p><p><br></p><p>Good point on the towers, but I don't believe that to be the case in this situation. We're both working from home–in the same location. I have an 11 Pro Max and she has a X. I get two days on a single charge. She is charging throughout the day. To be fair, my wife does actively use her phone much more than I do.</p>

      • Chris_Kez

        Premium Member
        15 October, 2020 - 11:03 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#586422">In reply to jwpear:</a></em></blockquote><p>It stinks she has to deal with that; I'm sorry. I would take a look at her screen time numbers and see if that kind of drain is reasonable for whatever level of usage she is at. Needing to charge throughout the day seems unusual based on my anectodal evidence. Battery Health for my iPhone X is 90% and like I said I easily get all day battery life. Has she enabled Optimized Battery Charging? I wonder if leaving it plugged in all the time has contributed to battery degradation, (upper 80's battery health indicator notwithstanding). If a hard reset doesn't help, p<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">erhaps a factory reset would; you never know. It might be worth trying. Good luck!</span></p>

        • JE

          15 October, 2020 - 3:43 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#586541">In reply to Chris_Kez:</a></em></blockquote><p>Can you not just get the battery replaced?</p><p>Im intending to upgrade and hand off my X to family. I’ll get the battery replaced before doing so if possible.</p>

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