iPhone Air Opinions Say Battery Life Is Higher Than Anticipated, However The Different iPhone 17 Fashions Do Even Higher

The primary iPhone Air concern through the iPhone 17 rumor season wasn’t sturdiness or value. As an alternative, most individuals who heard Apple was growing an iPhone slimmer than ever had been involved in regards to the battery life. An ultra-thin iPhone would characteristic an ultra-thin battery. Apple unveiled the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air fashions final week. That is once we discovered how lengthy every new iPhone will final on a single cost.

The official iPhone Air battery life estimates had been worse than the opposite three fashions, however a lot better than anticipated. Nonetheless, the truth that Apple launched a MagSafe battery pack particularly for the iPhone Air didn’t encourage confidence. We knew that we wanted real-life utilization to see how lengthy the iPhone Air would final on a cost in comparison with the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Professional, and iPhone 17 Professional Max.

The primary iPhone 17 and iPhone Air opinions are out on Wednesday, and we lastly know the way good the iPhone Air battery life is: The iPhone Air has good to better-than-expected battery life. Relying on use, the handset will final by the day, although heavy customers would possibly have to recharge earlier than nighttime. Some reviewers really measured battery life in real-life conditions, giving us a extra goal look than those that merely used the handset through the day after which checked out no matter power share that they had left earlier than charging it at night time.

Earlier than we have a look at these measurements, here is a reminder of Apple’s battery life estimates for the 4 telephones and their battery capacities:

• iPhone Air: 3,149 mAh battery – as much as 27 hours (video playback), as much as 22 hours (streamed video playback)
• iPhone 17: 3,692 mAh battery – as much as 30 hours (video playback), as much as 27 hours (streamed video playback)
• iPhone 17 Professional: 4,252 mAh battery – as much as 33 hours (video playback), as much as 30 hours (streamed video playback)
• iPhone 17 Professional Max: 5,088 mAh battery – as much as 39 hours (video playback), as much as 35 hours (streamed video playback)

The estimates above come from Apple’s web site. That is how the iPhone maker measures battery life, specializing in steady video playback. Tom’s Guide has a special check to measure battery life, which it makes use of for all of the smartphones it exams: The handset surfs the net on 5G at 150 nits of display brightness. The iPhone Air topped 12 hours within the check, virtually so long as the usual iPhone 17 – listed here are the findings:

• iPhone Air: 12 hours and a couple of minutes
• iPhone 17: 12 hours and 47 minutes
• iPhone 17 Professional Max: 17 hours and 54 minutes

The identical check notes the Galaxy S25 Edge lasted for 11 hours and 48 minutes, whereas the Galaxy S25 Extremely battery died after 14 hours and 27 minutes.

Tom’s Information additionally measured battery life for a special situation: YouTube video streaming over Wi-Fi for five hours at 50% display brightness. The iPhone Air dropped to 81% capability in comparison with 88% for the iPhone 17 Professional Max and 67% for the Galaxy S25 Edge.

Individually, YouTuber Dave2D measured battery life for all 4 iPhone 17 fashions in two eventualities: intensive gaming (Genshin loop) and social media shopping (Reddit loop), as seen within the screenshot above. Here is how the 4 iPhones did within the two exams:

• iPhone Air: 3 hours and 11 minutes / 9 hours and 29 minutes
• iPhone 17: 4 hours and 57 minutes / 13 hours and 6 minutes
• iPhone 17 Professional: 5 hours and quarter-hour / 13 hours and 33 minutes
• iPhone 17 Professional Max: 6 hours and 20 minutes / 15 hours and 36 minutes

The message is evident right here. If you wish to use the iPhone Air for lengthy gaming periods, you may want a battery case or a charger shut by. The handset cannot match what the thicker iPhone 17 fashions can provide. Put in another way, in the event you spend loads of time in your iPhone, you would possibly expertise that battery anxiousness feeling on the iPhone Air in direction of the tip of the day. However the cellphone is not going to die earlier than bedtime. iOS 26 features like Adaptive Power would possibly assist protect battery life earlier than it’s important to plug in