APPLE

iPhone 18 Pro battery life disappoints vs iPhone 17 Pro in gaming

Thanks to bigger batteries and the more power-efficient Apple A20 Pro SoC, Apple promises some excellent battery life gains for the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max. However, Dave2D shows that the battery life improvements aren't as impressive as some might've imagined.

Apple makes some bold claims regarding the battery life of the iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max. Apple officially claims 45 hours of video playback for the eSIM-only iPhone 18 Pro Max and 36 hours for the iPhone 18 Pro. While Apple doesn’t officially advertise the battery capacities, reports suggest that the eSIM-only iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 18 Pro Max carry a 4,288 mAh and 5,567 mAh battery, respectively.

However, despite packing larger batteries and a more efficient A20 Pro SoC, Dave2D shows that the battery life gain in demanding use cases remains small for the iPhone 18 Pro Max and non-existent for the iPhone 18 Pro.

The YouTuber reports that, in Genshin Impact at 600 nits of screen brightness, the Apple iPhone 18 Pro Max only lasted 23 minutes longer than the iPhone 17 Pro Max. So, the 9.4% bigger battery is undoubtedly helping here.

The battery life improvement was much more noticeable in lighter routine usage, as the iPhone 18 Pro Max lasted for 17 hours and 19 minutes while browsing Reddit at 600 nits. The iPhone 17 Pro Max lasted for 15 hours and 36 minutes in the same scenario.

The iPhone 18 Pro and the iPhone 17 Pro have roughly identical battery capacities, as there is only a 36 mAh difference between the two. So, any battery life improvements we see on the iPhone 18 Pro will primarily come down to the efficiency gains provided by the Apple A20 Pro.

Coming in at 14 hours and 27 minutes, the iPhone 18 Pro lasted almost an hour longer than the iPhone 17 Pro in Dave2D’s Reddit loop test. However, the iPhone 18 Pro actually fell behind the iPhone 17 Pro while playing Genshin Impact, as the iPhone 18 Pro's battery life was 11 minutes shorter.

In short, the battery life upgrades enjoyed by the new iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max don’t seem to be that big. So, you might be disappointed if you were hoping for much better battery life.

iPhone 18 Pro battery numbers are both good and bad news for Samsung...Apple announced the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max last week, and it had plenty to say about them. The company doesn’t traditionally share battery capacity, though, but a regulatory source has now revealed these details and more.

The European Union’s EPREL database has revealed that the iPhone 18 Pro has a 4,056mAh battery, a negligible upgrade over the iPhone 17 Pro’s 3,988mAh battery. On the other hand, the iPhone 18 Pro Max is listed with a 5,391mAh battery, which is a significant upgrade over the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s 4,823mAh battery.

It’s worth noting that global iPhones usually have slightly smaller batteries than US models, as the global variants still offer physical SIM slots. For example, the iPhone 17 Pro has a 4,252mAh battery in the US, while the Pro Max has a 5,088mAh battery. So don’t be surprised if the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max have even larger batteries in the US than the EU’s database indicates.

Apple is also banking on the 2nm A20 Pro chip to deliver plenty of efficiency gains across both models. Nevertheless, it’s clear that the iPhone 18 Pro Max is probably the one to get if you want the longest battery life possible in an iPhone. It also has a bigger battery than all recent Galaxy flagships. However, many other Android brands are now using 7,000mAh, 8,000mAh, or even 10,000mAh silicon-carbon batteries in their phones for even longer endurance.

The EPREL database also reveals disappointing news if you were hoping for better long-term battery health. The iPhone 18 Pro series offers 1,000 charging cycles before reaching an effective 80% capacity. This means you’ll basically lose 20% of your battery’s capacity after roughly three years. That’s in line with recent iPhones and Pixel phones, but short of rival devices like the Samsung Galaxy S26 series (1,200 cycles), Motorola Edge 70 Pro (1,200), OnePlus 15 (1,100 to 1,400), and Xiaomi 17 series (1,600).

There is good news for charging times, though. Xiaobai’s Tech Reviews (h/t: Ice Universe) reports that the iPhone 18 Pro Max in particular is the fastest-charging iPhone ever. It can apparently reach 100% in 55 minutes, with a peak speed of 52W. There are faster-charging Android phones out there, but this seems a little faster than the Pixel 11 Pro XL.

mundophone