The iPhone 16 launched not too long ago at Apple's September event, and as reviews for the phone series are coming out, there's one feature that's shining above the rest: exceptional battery life.
To be fair, Apple told us the "iPhone 16 Pro Max has the best iPhone battery life ever" at the September event. But in the tech world, companies promise a lot of things or leave out a crucial detail — in other words, we needed to see it to believe it. And now that the reviews are out, we know the iPhone 16 series boasts marvelous battery life, especially the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Just how good is the iPhone 16 Pro Max's battery life?
Battery tests among different outlets can vary, but everyone seems to have come to the conclusion that Apple knocked it out of the park with battery life in the iPhone 16 series.
The Washington Post says, "For those prone to bouts of battery anxiety, Apple's bigger iPhones are the way to go." Bigger iPhones refers to the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max, with the latter having the better battery life of the two.
In Mashable's review of these two bigger phones, it's clear the site shares the same opinion. Of the two phones, Mashable writes "It's like the Energizer Bunny — it just keeps going, and going, and going.
Our sister site Tom's Guide has also been singing the iPhone 16 series' battery life praises. In a handy comparison of all four new phones with their respective predecessors, it's clear just how much this generation's battery life has improved.
The Tom's Guide battery test involves continuous web surfing over 5G at 150 nits of screen brightness. For easy viewing, here's a comparison of all the iPhone 16 series battery life results next to the iPhone 15 series results.
| Header Cell - Column 0 | Battery size* | Battery life (hours:mins) |
|---|---|---|
| iPhone 16 | TBA | 12:43 |
| iPhone 16 Plus | TBA | 16:29 |
| iPhone 16 Pro | TBA | 14:07 |
| iPhone 16 Pro Max | TBA | 18:06 |
| iPhone 15 | 3,349 mAh | 11:05 |
| iPhone 15 Plus | 4,383 mAh | 14:14 |
| iPhone 15 Pro | 3,274 mAh | 10:53 |
| iPhone 15 Pro Max | 4,422 mAh | 14:02 |
Looking at the table above, all iPhone 16 Pro models improved in battery life, but the iPhone 16 Pro Max had the biggest jump. Compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max's battery life of 14 hours and 2 minutes, the iPhone 16 Pro Max gained about four hours, putting its battery life at 18 hours and 6 minutes.
Compared to their predecessors, the iPhone 16 Pro gained roughly an extra 3 hours of battery life; the iPhone 16 Plus, 2 hours and 15 minutes; and the iPhone 16, an hour and a half.
As Greg "Joz" Joswiak explained at the Apple September event, the impressive battery life of the iPhone 16 series can be attributed to "battery optimizations, larger batteries, advanced power management, and the remarkable efficiency of Apple silicon."
However, there's one important caveat to point out. Apple Intelligence hasn't been released yet. Apple's silicon chips may be power-efficient, but will they be efficient enough to counteract the power-hungry demands of AI?
Apple Intelligence is set to launch sometime next month, so keep an eye out for updated reviews on whether or not these impressive battery life results hold up.
