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The iPhone 15 apparently has a slightly bigger battery

The iPhone 15 apparently has a slightly bigger battery

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Apple says the iPhone 15 lineup has the same battery life as the iPhone 14, but new Chinese regulatory documents reportedly show up to about 2 percent capacity bumps compared to last year.

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iphone 15 pro exploded view
iPhone 15 Pro made a bit more room for battery in there.
Image: Apple

Apple has given its iPhone 15 lineup minor battery capacity bumps by as much as 2.3 percent. The slight upgrade, which Apple has not officially published on its site, was uncovered from a Chinese regulatory database and published by MySmartPrice (via 9to5Mac).

Apple indicates the iPhone 15 lineup has the same battery life capability as last year’s models. The company claims the iPhone 15 Pro Max has up to 29 hours of video playback and up to 95 hours of audio playback, and the 15 Pro has 23 hours of video and 75 hours of audio. Meanwhile, the iPhone 15 Plus is listed with 26 hours of video playback and 100 hours of audio, and the base iPhone 15 ekes out up to 20 hours of video playback from its tank and 80 hours of audio.

Here’s how the battery capacities line up according to the regulatory filing:

  • The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a 4,422mAh / 17.109Wh battery compared to the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s 4,323mAh.
  • The iPhone 15 Pro has a 3,274mAh / 12.70Wh battery compared to the iPhone 14 Pro’s 3,200mAh.
  • The iPhone 15 Plus has a 4,383mAh / 16.950Wh battery compared to the iPhone 14 Plus’ 4,325mAh.
  • The iPhone 15 has a 3,349mAh / 12.981Wh battery compared to the iPhone 14’s 3,279mAh.

The biggest capacity increases go to the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max

The biggest battery jumps go to the Pro models, which are still a fairly paltry increase of just over 2 percent. Owners of the iPhone 14 Pro, in particular, seem to have experienced more battery capacity loss and overall frustratingly low battery life than owners of previous model years. The iPhone 15 Pro models come with the new 3nm process A17 Pro Apple Silicon, which is the most power-efficient chip in the lineup. But it is also more powerful, so the net result, according to Apple’s figures, is the same stamina.

Across the iPhone 14 device lineup, battery health capacity is dropping off faster than previous models, with many customers reporting their iPhones are around 80 percent their original capacity in less than a year. It will be some time before we can determine if the iPhone 15 series experiences the same kind of degradation.