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iPhone 7 Finishes Last In New Test of Battery Life (betanews.com)
"Pitted against the Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10 and LG G5, Apple's latest handset came in last place... and by some distance," reports BetaNews. Here's the results of a new test from the U.K. consumer advocacy group, Which?:
We compared the iPhone 7's battery life, when making calls and browsing the web, to those of three top Android competitors: the Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10 and LG G5, and the results were staggering. While the iPhone 7's 712 minutes of call time (nearly 12 hours) may sound acceptable, the rival Samsung Galaxy S7 lasted twice as long -- and it doesn't even have the longest lasting battery. The HTC 10 lasted an incredible 1,859 minutes (that's almost 31 hours).
When it comes to internet browsing time, arguably the more important measurement, the results were a lot closer...but the iPhone 7 still came bottom. The 615 minutes of battery life offered by the iPhone 7 is 25 minutes less than its nearest rival, the LG G5, and 175 minutes less than the top performing HTC 10.
The researchers point out that the iPhone 7 has a smaller battery -- but that's leaving critics unimpressed. The Guardian newspaper is asking, "How good can a phone be if the battery doesn't last even a day?"
When it comes to internet browsing time, arguably the more important measurement, the results were a lot closer...but the iPhone 7 still came bottom. The 615 minutes of battery life offered by the iPhone 7 is 25 minutes less than its nearest rival, the LG G5, and 175 minutes less than the top performing HTC 10.
The researchers point out that the iPhone 7 has a smaller battery -- but that's leaving critics unimpressed. The Guardian newspaper is asking, "How good can a phone be if the battery doesn't last even a day?"
Battery size is the old MHz (GHz) game that CPU manufacturers (mostly) used to play. It's more about system optimization and total component draw vs that battery installed. Especially now that most flagship phones don't come with easily removable batteries, and NO flagship phone allows for hotswapping of a backup battery, the unit as an assembly is what really matters most.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
It could've had 71.2 minutes call time, 61.5 minutes of browsing time, and cost twice as much, and people would still buy it because it's an iPhone.
I'm guessing the Samsung Note 7 wasn't tested...?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Impossible, the test must be rigged. Because Apple says the battery is way better with the headphone jack gone.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Over 4 million people have died (1) since it was revealed that the Note 7 had batteries which could end the world as we know it (2). How many more have to die before this problem is fixed (3).
(1) Based on world human mortality rates. Deaths are unrelated to the Note 7.
(2) Not really.
(3) 151,000 people per day. As noted in (1), these deaths are in no way related to the Note 7, more than 2/3 of which had already been replaced as of the end of last week.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
They had all that open space from removing the headphone port and still ended up with the smallest battery? Wow.
Why was the test done with 3G? Does the UK not have LTE yet?
warning anecdote incoming. My wife and I were out yesterday, both my galaxy S7 and her IPhone 7 were in constant use for photos and videos (admittedly hers probably slightly more so). both started 100% charged, hers was dead flat in 5 hours, mine still had around 50% capacity. Now that isn't the surprising part, we have seen that fairly often and she carries an external battery to compensate, BUT her comment floored me "when is the next iPhone coming out, I need to upgrade for better battery" and she was dead serious. She had the same problem with the 6, she hates the new IOS upgrade and the quality of photos in low light and yet there is not even the slightest consideration that she could want anything but another iPhone.
And you admit it in your signature?
Why restrict the tests to 3G when this is a 4G world (at least in the US) now?
They don't mention how any of the phones were configured. If you have all services and gui effects turned on on any phone, the battery isn't going to last all day. I call bullshit on this one.
They're holding it wrong. And charging it wrong. And not paying for the new premium Applecare DoublePlusGood that hasn't been released yet.
That "highly useful" barometric sensor they put in place of the headphone jack uses 1.21 Jiggawatts.
When it comes to internet browsing time, arguably the more important measurement, ...
For a phone?
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Is getting stupid, the phones are already too thin for most normal people, the screens are so large its nearly impossible to use one handed, and what do you get for all this "innovation"
shit battery life
my co-workers give me crap about having a smaller, fairly heavy phone (dorid turbo), but I always laugh back whenever one of them complains about their shiny new firestarters being dead 3/4 of the way though the day, and mine still has 17 hours left on it
This is a *huge* variance from Ars Technica's wifi battery testing:
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2...
They found that the iPhone 7 lasted much longer in both of their web browsing tests than the HTC 10 and lasted only a bit less than the S7 and G5.
Even on Which's 3G (why only 3G ?) web browsing testing, phones with 1.5 times the battery don't get anywhere near that much extra life.
It's pretty hard to judge without more samples and more info on the testing methods but, taking these tests at face value:
a) iOS 10 seems *horribly* optimized for 3G phone calling
b) Android (along with whatever extra stuff is on the three Android phones) seems terribly optimized at the other stuff. They have *much* larger batteries but don't manage anywhere near commensurate battery life with Wifi or 3G web browsing tests.
Oh, and all the time I don't spend fooling around with a silly phone, I spend doing USEFUL, PRODUCTIVE things that enhance my life, instead of the equivalent of navel-gazing or masturbating.
Like hanging out here?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
You should put it up against these in their test. How long does it last *while talking on it*, and how long does it last while surfing the internet using their sites? Most flip phones won't last 20+ hours of talking, as the longer lasting phones here do. I doubt it can do the internet duration as well.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
As some other commenters pointed out, the comparison was done using the smaller iPhone 7, not the iPhone 7 Plus. This seems like a bit of a disingenuous comparison of battery lives, considering the iPhone 7 Plus is closer in size to the other phones, and contains a similarly sized battery. If all things were more equal, the battery life should be approximately 1.5x of what was listed there. Of course, that doesn't look as dramatic if somebody has an anti-Apple agenda.
While this doesn't really excuse Apple, I greatly suspect the culprit is iOS 10, not the iPhone 7. I've been running the beta for months, and usually the battery life starts to even out and get better at some point, and I never saw that shift. So on my iPhone 6, which used to get 10-12 hours of *usage* time (not standby), I can watch the battery tick down in real time. I've even watched the battery drain while it was PLUGGED IN on the final release.
My evidence is anecdotal, but I'm starting to get friends asking me if battery life is worse with iOS 10, and I've had to say that it is. There's something weird going on. It's still on Apple to fix it, but it's a lot easier to fix a busted background process than ship a new battery out.
Since it has no headphone jack, I'll never have to make that evaluation; Apple trashed the design, so it's not even in the running here.
I guess that's what happens when your flagship computer... is a trashcan.
Yeah. The iPhone blows up in your pocket.
I hate to break this to you, but "normal" is that people want their phones to last as long as possible.
You could "normalize" against my Samsung smartwatch and the iPhone would lose. Horribly. That's why you don't "normalize" by design choices in order to evaluate something's usefulness and/or quality of design. You just ask "hey, how long before this thing dies on me? Before the day is even over? Yeah, okay, something else then, thanks."
Apple's making a less-than-competitive phone. That's the bottom line. The external battery wrapper folk will have a heyday. And "there goes "thin."
What planet do you live on? I for one, DEMAND a large battery, because I don't like being a "wall wart" trying to find some place to charge my phone, just to make it through the day. My last 4 smartphones had big screens, because I like the larger screen. The Dell Streak 5, was the first in 2010, and boy the looks, laughs I got were amazing (I still have it, and it still works). Second one was the Galaxy Note, 3rd was the Mate2, and now I use the Mate8. All had batteries larger than 3,000mAH. The last 2, have 4,000mAH batteries. Both the last 2 phones, the batteries would EASILY make it through almost 2 days of use, without having to worry about needing a recharge. I'm a heavy PHONE user, 1500-2000 minutes per month, 200-500 texts per month, LOADS of spotify/pandora (before that it was playing mp3's), a ton of work related web use, and anywhere from 20-50 photos work related. On the Galaxy note, I had to charge the phone so much because the battery would just barely make it through the day after 12 months of use, I had to replace the charge/usb port 3 times in 3 years. (I got pretty good at replacing them). That's why I went with a 4,000mAH battery. Battery size DOES make a difference. If people want tiny, slim/thin phones, hey, that's their right, but I'd prefer the bigger bulky phones, which I don't stuff into skinny jeans, or pockets. I carry it in a belt case.
Based on what I've seen drain my phone's battery quickly, I want to see the Waze battery test. Pair the phone to the car's Bluetooth, stream music in the background, and leave the display on in full sunlight. I doubt most phones will exceed 4 hours.
Sent from my iPhone
oh, wait.
Comparing the iPhone7 to other contemporary phones is one thing. But people pick their phones according to their favorite platform - iOS or Android: typically, they are not gonna switch from one to the other. So a Samsung Galaxy guy might go to a OnePlus or a Xiaomi, but not likely an iPhone. Thing I'm interested in - how does the iPhone 7 battery life compare to that of the 5s?
You can pretend Apple is all about loyal Fanbois, but that's not true. Under Jobs it was about Unique Selling Points. Phone after phone came out with something new that only the iPhone had. Job would bounce on stage and beam about the new camera, or Siri or whatever. Their iPod touch was revolutionary, their iPad created the market.
Now Apple seems to be constantly playing catchup. Worse its full of hubris. Removing the floppy disk drive when it was no longer used was Jobs work. Removing the audio port for profit when its the most popular way of connecting speakers is Tim's work.
Apple's reflect this, e.g. Q2 2016 they sold 51.2 million iPhones, a 16 percent decline from the 61 million in the same quarter the year before.
Hubris
What planet do you live on? I for one, DEMAND a large battery, because I don't like being a "wall wart" trying to find some place to charge my phone, just to make it through the day.
Something tells me a road rage incident is in your future. The color of someone's car will push you over the edge.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Battery size also needs to take into account phone serviceability at one year, two years and even five years. Here's the really bad news the smaller your battery, the much faster you will go through recharges and the faster you will shorten the life of the battery, half the size, twice as many recharges and half the life. Fixed batteries are a major rip off and the purposeful inclusion of a phone failure device to force repurchase of that phone. I am quite simply refusing to purchase any phone without a user replaceable battery, no better lesson in this than Samsung's billion dollar fuck up. Battery powered and I can replace the battery, than they can quite simply fuck off, I am not going to buy, I am not that stupid.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Her current one sounds like a judgmental dick.
If it's any consolation, no one who buys an iPhone cares what some random website thinks about their phone choice.
1: story about iPhone with insufficient battery life
2: defensive remark "at least it doesn't blow up"
3: dead iPhone blows up
C'mon. That's really funny!
I would like to see manufacturer's offer thicker variants of some models for those who actually preferred longer use time over slim size. Surely choice is a good thing.
Finishing last would mean that it lasted the longest, wouldn't it?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
The 7 Plus solves her battery problems and also does greta with low light photos.
Or get her a battery case for the seven.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
So there's that, but of course Android fanboys will sweep that under the rug. Every year, each new iPhone is about twice as fast as the best Android competitor. So in a sense, if you wanted to compare phones that are actually comparable performance-wise, that'd be today's Android flagship and last year's iPhone 6S.
Nor browse that much. Or play that many games.
But something that fits in the ecosystem I've found myself in does matter. So yes, it matters that it's an iPhone.
And yes, even if it lasted that pittance... I'd still buy it. And what the fuck does it matter? I'm going to charge at the end of the day... regardless.
So who the fuck are you to judge me?
What planet do you live on? I for one, DEMAND a large battery, because I don't like being a "wall wart" trying to find some place to charge my phone, just to make it through the day.
Something tells me a road rage incident is in your future. The color of someone's car will push you over the edge.
I think there are two possible factors that may not have been taken into account:
1. Was the testing accidently (or deliberately) designed to NOT allow the iPhone 7 to take advantage of the A10's two low-power cores?
2. Was the iPhone brand new, or had the battery been properly conditioned (around 5 FULL charge-discharge cycles) before testing. It is common knowledge that Secondary batteries, even Li-ion/Li-Po batteries, don't reach their full capacity until they are run down and recharged fully several times. Since the iPhone was the newest of the group, it is a relevant question.
My iphone7 lasts for 2-3 days on a full charge....and this isn't even brief usage, when its hot spoting my laptop it lasts about 4 hours without being plugged in...maybe people complaining about battery power just needs to give up the ghost and get a tablet or small notebook.
I think there are two possible factors that may not have been taken into account: Could be - or even very likely. I do know that depending on the goals of the testers, the results can come out just about any way they want. Could end up like some of the bogus reviews the Tesla Automobile was getting, then exposed by the instrumentation data Tesla put on the car.
Regardless, I don't trust consumer advocacy groups. Consumer reports especially, but not these guys either.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
That's 12 hours of talk time on the phone. So if you need more than that in a day ... well, maybe get a battery case or car charger, or actually talk one on one with people in person...
Wow, isn't not trusting Consumer Reports on Slashdot or other leftie hangout like not trusting NPR? Commence the downmods, the heretic must be burned!
Apple really should stop doing it's own chips. The Power PC chip never kept up with Intel and finally Apple caved and decided to use Intel. Now Apple insists on using a custom ARM chip that I think has fallen behind because Apple now does not specs for the chips other than some useless comparison to a previous generation. The obsession with thin has created a limitation in battery capacity and frankly Apple has lost track of how important battery life is. It's OS simple has by default too much crap running in the background. I can get my SE iPhone to get a day and half at times. But I basically turn off all notifications, and background apps to do so. Which sort of defeats the purpose of some apps. I know I won't buy another iPhone unless Apple focus on basic function and stops with the design fluff.
iPhone can have a long battery life like Samung s7, but it first has to explode into flames.
How strange that would you say something like that. Still, your credibilty is perfect.
I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
So my choices are:
a) A device with a talk time of 24 hours and explodes.
b) A device with a talk time of 12 hours and doesn't explode.
Kudos to Apple for prioritizing the right things.
I use my iPhone 7 heavily all day starting at 6:30 AM, and so far it hasn't fallen below ~70% by the time I get in bed at 11:30 PM. That's with wifi and bluetooth on constantly (but mostly away from hotspots).
Were they holding it wrong too?
1. No, the testing wasn't designed to avoid the two low-power cores. It was designed to mimic real life. Unfortunately the iPhone wasn't.
2. It was the same condition as all other phones.
Sir Jonathan Ives the Anoxeric strikes again. His obsession with thin means iPhones don't have the room for a decent battery (or headphone jack). Pitiful. I don't buy smartphones for thin.
At the very least, Apple could sell an iPhone 7 EL (for extended life) that's thick enough tor a decent-sized battery.
Nope, I have a button in my car. A big red one that that says Bullsh*t on it. When someone does something stupid, I just push it...it has 4 phrases. That's all I need. I just smile and drive on. I'm going to get me a dash cam just to record the STUPID crap I see people do daily.
Were they holding it wrong too?
No. But thank you for providing the sort of insightful, fact-filled rebuttal I've come to expect from Apple Haters.
1. No, the testing wasn't designed to avoid the two low-power cores. It was designed to mimic real life. Unfortunately the iPhone wasn't.
2. It was the same condition as all other phones.
Prove it.
Another case of anti-Apple bias in the MSM. These "tests" have been disproven time and time again. It's "weird" how the MSM is so anti-Apple and pro-Shillary/anti-Trump, you'd almost come to believe that there is some kind of a conspiracy by the incompetent to shut down the smarter and better options.
Talking for 12 hours solidly and browsing the web solidly for 6 hours are typical phone workloads? I'm probably an outlier in phone use, but I rarely use mine for more than 10 minutes at a time. I want it to go in and out of standby quickly and give good performance when I'm using it. I have other devices (with much bigger screens) for when I intend to use them solidly for a few hours.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Wow, isn't not trusting Consumer Reports on Slashdot or other leftie hangout like not trusting NPR? Commence the downmods, the heretic must be burned!
I've found Consumer Reports over the years has immense amounts of reviewer bias. Rather petty some times.
What's more, they seem to have a major hardon for Jeeps. So far, I've bought 2 of the ones they've bashed badly, and unless a whole shitload of us Jeep owners are really lucky, CR has been way off wrong.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Shh yes its a giant conspiracy. Its ok. Hush now.
I've found Consumer Reports over the years has immense amounts of reviewer bias. Rather petty some times.
Not only that; but they sometimes focus on the weirdest things to like/dislike about a particular product.
These devices only come in one battery configuration - you get a phone and it comes with the battery they manufacturer provides. It's not like the efficiency of the device matters - are we really concerned about the $0.01 difference in cost to charge the biggest battery in the bunch vs the smallest? Will the $10 in electricity over the life of the phone life really tip the cost scales in favor of one phone or the other? Do you consider that a Galaxy S7 takes about 90 minutes to full-charge, while the iPhone 7 takes over 2 hours? Do we care? No. What we want to know if how long it will last after we take it off the charger and head out into the world.
Over and under performing means almost nothing. Does it work? Is it reliable? How long does it last between charges? It's a consumer device, not a 24/7 database server where efficiency can mean power to run, and cool, and maintain is millions of dollars a year.
To be fair, what I'd really like to see is a comparison of call/daa quality and link margin on phones - the old "what phone gets the best reception" question. As we get more and more dependent on data, I think the RF design should be front and center.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Shh yes its a giant conspiracy. Its ok. Hush now.
No, not a giant conspiracy; just a teeny one.
You pooh-pooh the idea that there was possibly reviewer bias in this case; yet when Ars Technica came to a much different conclusion regarding battery life, they were quickly denounced as being "well-known Apple fanbois" (the standard comeback from the Apple Haters).
Can't have it both ways.
Clearly the users are talking into it wrong. First they couldn't hold it right, then they couldn't stop bending it...sigh...will Apple customers never learn how to conform to Apple's expectations?
In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us. - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
I've found Consumer Reports over the years has immense amounts of reviewer bias. Rather petty some times.
Not only that; but they sometimes focus on the weirdest things to like/dislike about a particular product.
And how! While I look at them from time to time, and give some veracity to when they find explodey things, it's those way off base likes and dislikes that do their reviews in. Some of the things they've marked things down for make me laugh.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
Were they holding it wrong too?
No. But thank you for providing the sort of insightful, fact-filled rebuttal I've come to expect from Apple Haters.
It. Was. A. Joke.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
I guess it comes down to if you care about charging your phone every night.
I've never had a problem charging my phone every night and I have never found myself ending the day with less than about 30% left on my iPhone and I've been using them since they came out in 2007.
Call me crazy I guess but I think the battery life is at a point where it's "good enough". I wouldn't trade 2 day battery life for a larger, thicker, heavier phone because I don't need 2 day battery life, or at least it's not that much of a benefit to me vs. the cons.
Since when does real life include talking on the phone for 12+ hours straight? The times in the summary are *talk times*.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
...until they start making phones again that have a battery that you can switch.
I've found Consumer Reports over the years has immense amounts of reviewer bias. Rather petty some times.
Not only that; but they sometimes focus on the weirdest things to like/dislike about a particular product.
And how! While I look at them from time to time, and give some veracity to when they find explodey things, it's those way off base likes and dislikes that do their reviews in. Some of the things they've marked things down for make me laugh.
Yup. Me too...
Were they holding it wrong too?
No. But thank you for providing the sort of insightful, fact-filled rebuttal I've come to expect from Apple Haters.
It. Was. A. Joke.
Sorry. Hard to tell around here...
May I suggest a [sarcasm] tag next time, LOL!?!?
Prove it.
Read the fucking article, deluded fanboi. It stated that all phones were put through a full charge/discharge cycle prior to the test. If your phone has half the battery capacity of everything else but its specs are on a similar level its going to do really shit in battery tests no matter how much optimisation you do.
I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
Prove it.
Read the fucking article, deluded fanboi. It stated that all phones were put through a full charge/discharge cycle prior to the test. If your phone has half the battery capacity of everything else but its specs are on a similar level its going to do really shit in battery tests no matter how much optimisation you do.
Read my fucking post, deluded Hater.
I stated that SEVERAL full charge/discharge cycles are needed for a secondary battery to come to full capacity.
Also, something I forgot about in my original post, is that iOS is notorious for having shit battery life upon a new major-revision release. Don't know why; but they seem to do their performance-tweaking during the first minor rev. or two. Not saying that is definitely the case here; but if history is any guide, there are examples aplenty of that happening with iOS during most "major revision-number" changes.
Technically, you're correct. But realistically? I'm not seeing where worn out batteries in iPhones have been a problem for anyone.
Yes, if you actually still have people trying to get more use out of an iPhone 2 or 3, they probably need a new battery in it by now. I'm sure this is getting to the point where it's true for the iPhone 4 series as well.
But not many people still bother with a phone that old .... not when you have to pay just as much for monthly cellular service on it as to make a current or recent model work on the same network.
Everyone I see still using an iPhone 4 series are pre-teens who got the phone free when one of their parents or family members got something new and discarded it. At that point, if they really need a new battery in it, they can justify paying one of these 3rd. party phone repair places to swap it for them.
I can tell you why, apple sucks at writing software. Plain and simple.
I can tell you why, apple sucks at writing software. Plain and simple.
Based on what, exactly? The fact that they like to get some real-world data before they spend time on optimization of parts of the OS that really don't matter?
Or (more likely) simply because you are an Apple-Hater?
First: The article uses "3G calling" and "3G Internet". While that might matter in some parts of the world, and even some places in the USA, I would think that tests for "LTE Calling" coupled with " LTE and WiFi internet" would be far more useful.
Secondly: How does the 7 Plus compare? If I were to get one, that certainly would be the version I would buy.
Geekbench battery test results aren't lopsided at all. The iPhone 6s Plus performs quite well in it. iPhone 7 Plus results don't seem to be available yet, but they may be even better. Not to mention the iPhone 7 destroys every other smartphone for speed, even besting the newest MacBook Airs with Intel Core i7 processors.
My wife gets a new iPhone every two years when her contract is up. From day one she is carrying a charger around with her and plugs the phone in every time she gets into a car. Is it just her or does everyone with an iPhone carry a backup battery or charger around? Why do people keep buying this stuff?
You sound like a mindless gadget zombie. Get a life you fool.
Which is exactly what you are trying to do.
hypocrisy thy name is macs4all
I'm not an Apple hater. I'm typing this on an iPhone 6s. I'm just nor an Apple worshipper like you.
Can't prove it, but can anecdotally confirm it with my own device.
TBH, my iPhone has pretty much always had inferior battery life to my droids (I have a work and a personal phone, and I like diversity)
I'm rather surprised this is news, or that people even doubt it.
I'm not seeing where worn out batteries in iPhones have been a problem for anyone.
lolwut?
I'm on my... 8th iPhone.
I'm not saying it's planned, but the primary reason I upgrade (almost) every year is because the phone now holds at maximum a few hours of use-charge.
Contrast that to my OPO, which still has over a day of battery life, years on.
I'm not an Apple hater, or a fanboy. Work supplies me with a phone service, and I always do an iPhone. For my personal device, I've always got an android. I'm not for or against either, they're both great devices.... but battery life has been a consistent problem on me and my colleagues iPhones. Perhaps our use (very high) differs from yours.
I still have my iPhone 4s, and my 5s, and my 6s. All 3 of them hold a charge for under 3 hours.
My phone sits in the car all day, not being used. I would be happy if it had this much battery life. It might come out at the end of the day at 80% instead of 20%.
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?