Apple now says the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro batteries retain 80 percent of their original capacity at 1000 complete charge cycles instead of 500.
Before today, the company rated the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro batteries as holding 80 percent of their original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles.
Apple’s support document was updated to reflect this change, but it doesn’t clarify why Apple suddenly doubled the rated battery capacity for the iPhone 15 lineup.
As the Cupertino company writes in a refreshed support document on its website, batteries used in the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro and earlier models are designed to retain 80 percent of their original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles versus 1000 full charge cycles for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models.
Updated battery cycle lifespan for the iPhone 15 lineup
Apple told MacRumors that its latest testing for iPhone 15 models involved charging and discharging the battery 1,000 times under specific conditions, but it did not provide any exact details about the process. Apple added that it has continually made improvements to iPhone battery components and its power management system.
And:
This revelation means that it could take longer for the maximum battery capacity of iPhone 15 models to decline to 80 percent compared to previous iPhone models. However, Apple said it is “investigating” the battery lifespans of older iPhone models, so a comparison based on the latest testing parameters remains to be seen.
There have been legitimate complaints from concerned owners of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 15 models about poor battery life.
Could this move on Apple’s part have something to do with it? Apple, we still remember how you throttled the iPhone’s CPU under the pretext of protecting battery health when its capacity had fallen below the eight percent mark.
iOS 17.4 tweaks battery health reporting on iPhone 15
iOS 17.4 brings an enhanced battery health overview in Settings, with a new Battery Health section replacing the previous Battery Health & Charging on the iPhone 15 models. Here, you can find information like the current battery cycle count, manufacture date and first use (previously tucked away in General > About).
The battery cycle count is still unavailable on older iPhones even though there’s no technical reason preventing Apple from providing this information to the user.
Although MacBook owners have been able to check their laptop’s battery cycle count, owners of the iPhone 14 and older models have to rely on indirect workarounds to unearth this vital battery health metric.