Apple says iPhone 15 battery has gotten better — but won’t say how

iPhone 15 owners appear to be Got some great news yesterday: Long-term battery health is better than Apple initially claimed. Twice as good indeed! The company is now doing a lot of advertising to show how long its batteries will last. The trouble is we’re not Absolutely What’s certain is that batteries have become better than ever – or if Apple has changed the way they talk about and test them.

As reported 9to5Mac, Apple re-tested the batteries in the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro and now claims they can retain at least 80 percent of their original capacity for 1,000 charging cycles – double its initial claim of 500 cycles. Batteries naturally degrade over time, so the extra longevity is welcome news. This is especially notable for iPhone 14 owners began reporting unexpected declines Improved battery health after less than a year of use.

But there are a lot of variables that contribute to how long a battery lasts, and it’s not clear whether the new batteries are better or Apple just started testing them differently.

On both iOS and its website, Apple is now advertising the 1,000 cycle figure as attainable under “ideal conditions.” This is different from the way Apple used to advertise its promise of 500 cycles, which was achievable under “normal circumstances”. It seems that the term “normalcy” has now been removed from Apple’s website and replaced with “ideal”, which also includes referring to older phones. Even battery claims that previously had no qualifiers now note that they require “ideal conditions”. an example of language Also appeared on a support page yesterdaybut later it was updated the verge Emailed seeking clarification on testing conditions.

Normal and ideal are clearly different ways of using the phone, and it’s unclear whether Apple’s change in language also reflects the change in testing: The company declined to comment on the record. When we asked about it. 9to5Mac The report says the improvement in battery health is due to “continuous updates to battery components and power management systems over the years,” which leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

It’s highly unlikely that Apple is making anything here. Undoubtedly, the iPhone 15 battery will maintain the promised capacity of up to 1,000 charging cycles under certain conditions – but it would be useful to know What Those terms apply. Apple’s support pages mention the phone’s built-in software features to help preserve battery life, and the iPhone 15 includes an option Limit charging to 80 percent To help with long term performance. Maybe checking that option in the Settings menu is “ideal”, or maybe the ideal is actually an even more controlled Lab setting.

Battery health is a difficult concept to communicate because of how many variables are involved. Apple has since been under a lot of pressure to make more data available to users picked up throttle speed Causes of battery problems on older iPhones. But the raw numbers – charging cycles or percentage of original capacity – can be Hard to understand without context, And the claim that battery health is suddenly much better than originally thought? It probably deserves a little more context too.