The iPhone 16 Pro probably won’t fix the iPhone 15 Pro’s biggest issue

A similar size battery with a new case

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While theiPhone 15 Pro Maxhas a long-lasting battery, theiPhone 15 Prohas battery life that we described simply as “adequate” in ouriPhone 15 Pro review. Not bad then, but not overly impressive either, and it sounds like theiPhone 16Pro might not improve matters much.

You see, images of a battery apparently intended for the iPhone 16 Pro have been leaked by@KosutamiSan(viaMacRumors), and they show a capacity of 3,355mAh. For reference, the iPhone 15 Pro has a 3,274mAh battery, so this would be an improvement, but just barely, and would still make for one of the smallest batteries in a modern smartphone.

As such, we’d guess that – if this leak is accurate – there will be no significant changes to the battery life in the iPhone 16 Pro. Just like the iPhone 15 Pro has the same quoted life as theiPhone 14 Pro, despite having a marginally larger battery than its predecessor.

Battery of early stage iPhone 16 Pro ProtoFeatures glossy metal shell, 3355mAh Capacity(13.02Wh), LCV 4.48V(Limited Charge Voltage)Current stage prototype has changed some design: from glossy surface to frosted metal shell, and with a redesigned connector#Apple #appleinternal pic.twitter.com/QvguZ7CrtLNovember 20, 2023

Officially then, the iPhone 16 Pro will probably be quoted for up to around 23 hours of life when watching locally stored videos, or up to 20 hours for streamed video. Based on our experiences with the iPhone 15 Pro, that will likely translate to all-day life for most users, but not much more.

This assumes that the battery leak above is correct of course, which it may not be, as the source doesn’t yet have much of a track record, and it’s early days for iPhone 16 leaks. Indeed, they describe this as an “early stage” iPhone 16 Pro battery, so it could be subject to change anyway.

Cool running

There is some good news here though – if this leak is right – because while the capacity of the battery isn’t much changed, the housing is. The foil casing of batteries in current iPhones has been replaced here by a frosted metal, and that’s a change which could improve the thermal efficiency of the battery.

In other words, it could help keep the phone cooler, which might in turn allow the phone to operate at full power for longer, even when carrying out demanding tasks.

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The same source actually recently claimed that the iPhone 16 Pro andiPhone 16 Pro Maxwould have a metal battery case, so now they’ve provided evidence of this. At the same time, they also said thatevery iPhone 16 model will include a graphene heat sink, to further improve the thermal efficiency.

With these phones not expected until September of 2024 we’d take this and all rumors with a pinch of salt. But don’t be surprised if – going by the above – the iPhone 16 Pro runs cooler than its predecessor, but doesn’t have much more stamina.

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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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