Other Apple finally stepped it up on battery life. Why now?

[Phone Junky]

Ever since the original, one of the same complaints year in and year out has been battery life. It seems that pleas for longer batteries were basically ignored. Last year, Apple then gave us the Xr which gave a lot better battery life than any iPhone before. Now, this year, the whole lineup has been given way better battery than their predecessors. The batteries in the 11 Pros are significantly bigger than the Xses. What changed at Apple? Why do we finally get some bigger batteries? Did 3D Touch hardware take up more internal room that Apple sacrificed battery life for? If so, I'll take the extended battery over 3D Touch any day.

 

[The Game 161]

I think 3D Touch being removed is a big reason for this...and to be honest I’m glad. Amazing battery life and a great camera are the two most important features for me

 

[MacDevil7334]

I think (and the tear downs support this) that Apple originally planned to implement reverse wireless charging on the Pro models this year. This would have allowed you to charge AirPods or an Apple Watch on the go by just placing the device on the back of your iPhone over the Apple logo (which is why the Apple logo also got moved to the center). To prevent this feature from completely draining your iPhone’s battery, it needed to be bigger than before. So Apple removed 3D Touch and made the phone a bit thicker to fit a bigger battery.

At some point Apple decided the reverse wireless charging feature didn’t measure up and disabled it. But it was way too far along in the design process so all the hardware (bigger battery and reverse charge controller) is still there. The feature is just disabled in software. The upside for Apple is they were able to tout “Pro battery life” as a new feature this year. But we likely have the aborted reverse wireless charging feature to thank for it.

 

[m0sher]

IMO better battery life started with the X line being better than ‘average’. 11 Pro is better than ‘good’ this year and exceeds the previous two years of incremental upgrades in both efficiency / battery size.

 

[BeeGood]

What changed at Apple? Why do we finally get some bigger batteries?

I suspect the departure of Jony Ive had a good bit to do with it. He appeared to be the champion of the “keep iPhone thin and sleek” doctrine.

With him gone, the voices inside of Apple (and I’m sure there were many) who wanted the iPhone to be thicker to put more inside were probably easier to hear.

 

[Knowlege Bomb]

I suspect the departure of Jony Ive had a good bit to do with it. He appeared to be the champion of the “keep iPhone thin and sleek” doctrine.

With him gone, the voices inside of Apple (and I’m sure there were many) who wanted the iPhone to be thicker to put more inside were probably easier to hear.

Yep. Ive had a huge say in the iPhone‘s overall design, hardware and software side. We saw what happened to iOS when Forstall departed so I’m wondering if we’ll see a similar change in the coming years.

 

[Freakonomics101]

I think 3D Touch being removed is a big reason for this...and to be honest I’m glad. Amazing battery life and a great camera are the two most important features for me

I agree with you on all of that. The removal of the hardware allowed more room for a bigger battery.

 

[profets]

It's a good question. I recall the 6 days when the iPhone reached its thinnest point and the camera protruded for the first time that people were asking - why not just make the phone thicker so there is no bump and the rest could be battery. 6s went 0.2mm thicker which really was just the inclusion of 3D Touch. The 8 and X went thicker though that was more due to the glass back and wireless charging. And now finally the 11/Pro went thicker yet again and they significantly increased the size of the battery.

I wonder if part of it was so that the camera protrusion didn't look ridiculous. I mean, with the 11/Pro there's the glass bump, and then lenses bumped even on top of there. And this is on top of a much thicker iPhone compared to the 6. Can't imagine how big the camera bump would have been if they were still at the thickness of the 6.

Anyway, losing 3D Touch (0.2mm) + phone getting thicker (0.4mm) compared to the XS gave some decent internal increase (~0.6mm) for the battery to get larger.

 

[eyoungren]

We saw what happened to iOS when Forstall departed so I’m wondering if we’ll see a similar change in the coming years.

I'm not one who saw Forstall's departure as a good thing. Because of that we got the whole blinding white, preschool coloring of iOS 7 and up. I'm not a fan of the flat design and I've spent several years jailbreaking and using Eclipse and Monochrome to do away with this atrocity. Now that iOS 13 gives darkmode, I can at least do away with it stock on my iPad.

That said, I'm 100% glad Ive is gone. He's held things back because no one could say jack to him about his poor design decisions. He believes his own hype.

 

[Devyn89]

I suspect the departure of Jony Ive had a good bit to do with it. He appeared to be the champion of the “keep iPhone thin and sleek” doctrine.

With him gone, the voices inside of Apple (and I’m sure there were many) who wanted the iPhone to be thicker to put more inside were probably easier to hear.

I don’t think that’s it, he left only recently and iPhones take a few years to design and manufacture. He hasn’t been gone long enough for that drastic a change in the weight and thickness of a product to be changed that much.

 

[BeeGood]

I don’t think that’s it, he left only recently and iPhones take a few years to design and manufacture. He hasn’t been gone long enough for that drastic a change in the weight and thickness of a product to be changed that much.

Ives’ departure wasn’t sudden. His disengagement began several years ago, apparently shortly after the release of the first Apple Watch.

His presence and influence decreased slowly over the years. Had that not happened, I don’t think we would have seen the progressive thickening of the iPhone.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...apple-s-long-goodbye-to-design-chief-jony-ive

 

[FeliApple]

Agree with the rest: Ive’s philosophy was pathetic, both on hardware (useless thinning for the sake of it), and on software (iOS 6 is beautiful).
Regarding battery life: the first real improvement was with the 6+. The Xʀ was a large step up, as you said.

 

[neutrino23]

I don’t think that’s it, he left only recently and iPhones take a few years to design and manufacture. He hasn’t been gone long enough for that drastic a change in the weight and thickness of a product to be changed that much.

It seems that Sir Ive was much less involved with product during the last few years. He spent more effort finishing the Apple spaceship. He didn’t just abruptly quit. He worked with management to gradually disengage.

I agree with the others thathis declining influence led to thicker, heavier phones with more battery life. Note that the MacBook Pro is getting a new keyboard.

 

[MacDevil7334]

It seems that Sir Ive was much less involved with product during the last few years. He spent more effort finishing the Apple spaceship. He didn’t just abruptly quit. He worked with management to gradually disengage.

I agree with the others thathis declining influence led to thicker, heavier phones with more battery life. Note that the MacBook Pro is getting a new keyboard.

The new MacBook keyboard may be driven out of necessity. Apple is likely spending quite a bit of money replacing keyboards free of charge on recent MacBooks. Regardless of whether Ive had much say in the design of the next MacBook, returning to a more reliable keyboard design is simply a good business decision for Apple.

 

[C DM]

I think 3D Touch being removed is a big reason for this...and to be honest I’m glad. Amazing battery life and a great camera are the two most important features for me

I agree with you on all of that. The removal of the hardware allowed more room for a bigger battery.

Still trying to understand how exactly 3D Touch would be responsible for all of that? Mostly it’s an extra layer under the screen that really can’t take up or free up that much space.

 

[Brien]

Part of it is probably hardware maturity.. not much else to iterate on but battery, chip performance/efficiency and camera/screen.

Likewise we may not see drastically better battery life on the Watch until Series 9/10.

 

[I7guy]

It's a good question. I recall the 6 days when the iPhone reached its thinnest point and the camera protruded for the first time that people were asking - why not just make the phone thicker so there is no bump and the rest could be battery. 6s went 0.2mm thicker which really was just the inclusion of 3D Touch. The 8 and X went thicker though that was more due to the glass back and wireless charging. And now finally the 11/Pro went thicker yet again and they significantly increased the size of the battery.

I wonder if part of it was so that the camera protrusion didn't look ridiculous. I mean, with the 11/Pro there's the glass bump, and then lenses bumped even on top of there. And this is on top of a much thicker iPhone compared to the 6. Can't imagine how big the camera bump would have been if they were still at the thickness of the 6.

Anyway, losing 3D Touch (0.2mm) + phone getting thicker (0.4mm) compared to the XS gave some decent internal increase (~0.6mm) for the battery to get larger.

Why not go all the way and get rid of the camera bump?

 

[profets]

Why not go all the way and get rid of the camera bump?

My opinion: the 11 Pro is already too heavy. Going all the way to cover the entire camera bump will result in much too heavy and thick of a device.

Also - I imagine a high percentage of iPhones users (not myself though) put their iPhones in a case which result in the camera no longer protruding.

 

[I7guy]

My opinion: the 11 Pro is already too heavy. Going all the way to cover the entire camera bump will result in much too heavy and thick of a device.

Also - I imagine a high percentage of iPhones users (not myself though) put their iPhones in a case which result in the camera no longer protruding.

What you say makes sense. However, think of the battery life, if Apple increased the size of the batteries. Yeah, weight and girth. It's a tough balancing act.

 

[profets]

What you say makes sense. However, think of the battery life, if Apple increased the size of the batteries. Yeah, weight and girth. It's a tough balancing act.

Thermal issues too I imagine. Definitely seemed like there was a stretch where they could have used larger batteries/thicker cases. Though definitely seems to be more than enough with the 11 Pro. Too much in my opinion.

 

[Azathoth123]

Maybe a few plausible reasons.

1. With Ive’s departure, thin is no longer inviolate above other considerations, which might be....
2. If the new battery management actually reduces maximum charge under some circumstances (now or later) the increased capacity will be needed to maintain daily longevity, and my favorite...
3. more battery capacity will be needed for upcoming hardware and features.

Of course it could be much simpler, battery life was a long running complaint and they decided to listen to their customers. Apple isn’t deaf but sometimes they are hard of hearing.

 

[tranceking26]

I'm not sure why it's happened now instead of before, but it's really good to see.

 

[Abazigal]

I wonder if 3D Touch was initially removed from the iPhone XR as a cost saving measure. Apple then filled the extra space with a bigger battery because, why not? Subsequently, when they saw how well the iPhone XR did, coupled with how poorly 3D Touch was catching on, it was probably a no-brainer to remove a feature that cost more and which nobody needed in favour of another feature (a larger battery) that they knew would appeal to every user.

 

[Seanm87]

Personally I think apple knows what it’s doing 5 years in advance. It probably knew this year would be dull so held off on the battery update until the year in which it didn’t have much else going.

i think people assume that this enormous company just make it up as they go along but I’m sure they know exactly what they’re doing years advance. Obviously little things change here and there but I bet they have a release plan up until 2023 or even further.

 

[MacDevil7334]

I wonder if 3D Touch was initially removed from the iPhone XR as a cost saving measure. Apple then filled the extra space with a bigger battery because, why not? Subsequently, when they saw how well the iPhone XR did, coupled with how poorly 3D Touch was catching on, it was probably a no-brainer to remove a feature that cost more and which nobody needed in favour of another feature (a larger battery) that they knew would appeal to every user.

The iPhones 11 were already pretty far along in the development process before the XR even went on sale. Apple had already committed to removing 3D Touch on this generation. Based on the info that has trickled our since the 11 launch, 3D Touch was removed because Apple realized they were not ever going to be able to bring the technology to iPad and the feature wasn’t that widely used anyway. Removing the 3D Touch hardware was a way for Apple to save money and thin the display assembly.