For most smartphone users, the battery life of their devices is a crucial factor in determining which phone they eventually choose.
When Apple debuted its new iPhone 16 range earlier this month, it said that its iPhone Pro 16 Max batteries offer the “best battery life on an iPhone ever.”
Apple claims that the iPhone 16 Pro Max battery will enable up to 33 hours of video playback, up to 29 hours of streamed video playback and up to 105 hours of audio playback.
It claimed that the iPhone 16 Pro Max delivers four extra hours of video playback compared to its predecessor, with the base iPhone 16 offering two additional hours.
However, a recent test by YouTuber MrWhosetheboss sheds light on the real-world battery performance of the iPhone 16 range vs the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
The test mimicked real-life scenarios, cycling through popular apps like social media, YouTube, and Slack, according to Gizmochina.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a hefty 5,000 mAh battery emerged as the clear winner here, lasting 12 hours and 31 minutes.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max came in second place with 11 hours and 22 minutes of battery life, a noticeable improvement over the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 9 hours and 35 minutes.
The rest of the iPhone 16 lineup displayed a similar pattern. Both the Plus and Pro clocked in at 8 hours and 19 minutes, while the standard iPhone 16 matched that time.
Below are the results:
• Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: 12 hours 31 minutes
• iPhone 16 Pro Max: 11 hours 22 minutes
• iPhone 15 Pro Max: 9 hours 35 minutes
• iPhone 16 Plus: 8 hours 45 minutes
• iPhone 16 Pro: 8 hours 19 minutes
• iPhone 16: 8 hours 19 minutes
• iPhone 15: 7 hours 45 minutes
The iPhone 16 series does not surpass the S24 Ultra’s battery life despite Apple’s use of a second-gen 3nm chip, which is more efficient than the S24 Ultra’s 4nm chip.
As ChannelNews recently reported, Apple is also charging nearly 20 per cent more to replace the batteries on its 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max devices, compared to those on the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus.
The replacement for the iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max will cost you A$199, according to Apple’s Australian website. Battery replacements on the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus meanwhile are priced at A$169.
Apple’s decision to price the battery replacement of the latest Pro models higher than the non-Pro models of the same family is noteworthy when you consider that it does not follow the same policy for its iPhone 15 range – it costs a standard A$169 to replace the battery across the entire iPhone 15 family.