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iPhone 15 Pro Max has the topmost spot in the iPhone 15 series. However, in terms of battery performance, the iPhone 15 Plus can beat it.
That’s according to a new video shared by YouTube page Mrwhosetheboss, which put all the iPhone 15 models and other earlier iPhone models (iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro Max) to different tests while keeping track of their battery life. The activities include various apps, including ChatGPT, Zoom, TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, camera, and more. The apps were used on all the iPhones, with their screens kept on from the start to the end of the test or until their batteries drained.
Interestingly, the lengths of battery life of the iPhone 15 models in the test were far from what you would expect from them based on their ranks in the series. Here’s how long the iPhone models’ batteries lasted in the test:
- iPhone 14: 9 hours and 2 minutes
- iPhone 15 Pro: 9 hours and 20 minutes
- iPhone 15: 9 hours and 57 minutes
- iPhone 14 Pro Max: 10 hours and 54 minutes
- iPhone 13 Pro Max: 11 hours and 19 minutes
- iPhone 15 Pro Max: 11 hours and 41 minutes
- iPhone 15 Plus: 13 hours and 19 minutes
The entrance of the iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro Max in the upper part of the rank is not surprising (and so is the iPhone 14 getting the shortest battery life in the test). However, some might find the ranking of the new iPhone 15 models in this test quite interesting, with the iPhone 15 Pro being the first to drain its battery and the iPhone 15 Plus beating the battery life of the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
The battery capacity ratings of the iPhone 15 models might help explain this.
According to the information from a Chinese regulatory database, the iPhone 15 Pro has the lowest battery capacity of all models in the line at 3,274mAh. It is followed by the standard iPhone 15 model with a 3,349mAh battery. This complements the two models’ performance and ranking in this recent test.
However, it is a different story between the iPhone 15 Plus and the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
To compare, the iPhone 15 Pro Max has a 4,422mAh battery, while the iPhone 15 Plus has a 4,383mAh battery. Ironically, despite this small difference and the iPhone 15 Plus’s lower capacity, the iPhone 15 Pro Max still ended up second in the test. Even more, the cheaper phone outlasted it for less than two hours. To make things worse, both the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max boast the new A17 chip, which is expected to bring them better battery management efficiency. Yet, the chip somehow failed in this test.
Of course, as we said in other test result reviews, this is not official and doesn’t represent Apple’s entire work. There could be other elements involved that resulted in these bizarre figures, which could explain the iPhone 15 Plus’ dominance over the new Pro Max. Nevertheless, official or not, the test is not doing the iPhone 15 Pro Max any favors.
On the other hand, the result could help build the iPhone 15 Plus’ image. To recall, in the past, including in the last series, the iPhone 14 Plus had the smallest market share among US carriers in April 2023, according to a Wave7 Research report shared by JPMorgan Chase. Yet, according to supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 15 Plus might experience an order increase this year “as sales results are better than feared.” And if the iPhone 15 Plus’ battery could really outperform the latest Pro Max’s, this could help the cheaper phone model gain more sales than the top-tier model of the lineup. However, this will be a disaster for Apple, which is hoping to create more sales from this year’s Pro Max.
