iPad Pro Are people concerned with battery degradation with iPad Pro?

[Sensamic]

Currently have an iPad 6th gen and wish to upgrade to an iPad Pro 11, but something that concerns me with paying premium prices with portable devices like tablets and laptops is the inevitable battery degradation.

With my current iPad battery is OK but not as great as before. It's been 3 years, so it definitely has battery degradation to some degree. Paying 800$ for a tablet would be ok if it could last me 5/6 years, but I'm sure at some point after 3/4 years battery life will take a big hit like I see with iPhones, Apple Watches, etc.

With the basic iPad it's easier to think that in 3/4 years I can upgrade to the latest basic iPad and get the newer hardware, new battery and new updates, but with the Pro, a good one like the M1 with 8GB RAM, I don't see what more I could need in 5/6 years, but I definitely don't want to pay in the future to replace the battery and have my iPad taken apart for it.

Do users of the Pro think about battery degradation?

 

[sparksd]

Deleted (duplicate)

 

[sparksd]

I don't worry about it. It's a fact of life for all Li-ion batteries and you either accept it or steer away from the purchase. If it really becomes an issue for me down the road, I'll use a power bank when necessary.

 

[chabig]

Do users of the Pro think about battery degradation?

Not ever.

 

[JBGoode]

Currently have an iPad 6th gen and wish to upgrade to an iPad Pro 11, but something that concerns me with paying premium prices with portable devices like tablets and laptops is the inevitable battery degradation.

With my current iPad battery is OK but not as great as before. It's been 3 years, so it definitely has battery degradation to some degree. Paying 800$ for a tablet would be ok if it could last me 5/6 years, but I'm sure at some point after 3/4 years battery life will take a big hit like I see with iPhones, Apple Watches, etc.

With the basic iPad it's easier to think that in 3/4 years I can upgrade to the latest basic iPad and get the newer hardware, new battery and new updates, but with the Pro, a good one like the M1 with 8GB RAM, I don't see what more I could need in 5/6 years, but I definitely don't want to pay in the future to replace the battery and have my iPad taken apart for it.

Do users of the Pro think about battery degradation?

They don't take apart the iPad. They don't actually replace iPad batteries. If you pay for battery service, you get a new (probably refurb) unit with a new battery.

 

[Digitalguy]

remember that you cannot just ask to have your battery replaced and pay the money (around $100)
Your battery must be seriously degraded for Apple to accept it.. They will measure the degradation at 80%, but that does not match the measurements of third party apps. In my experience, it's closer to half the battery life you had when it was new... Until you get to that point, you simply cannot have the battery serviced...
And your device must be in good condition, otherwise they'll charge much more.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Currently have an iPad 6th gen and wish to upgrade to an iPad Pro 11, but something that concerns me with paying premium prices with portable devices like tablets and laptops is the inevitable battery degradation.

With my current iPad battery is OK but not as great as before. It's been 3 years, so it definitely has battery degradation to some degree. Paying 800$ for a tablet would be ok if it could last me 5/6 years, but I'm sure at some point after 3/4 years battery life will take a big hit like I see with iPhones, Apple Watches, etc.

With the basic iPad it's easier to think that in 3/4 years I can upgrade to the latest basic iPad and get the newer hardware, new battery and new updates, but with the Pro, a good one like the M1 with 8GB RAM, I don't see what more I could need in 5/6 years, but I definitely don't want to pay in the future to replace the battery and have my iPad taken apart for it.

Do users of the Pro think about battery degradation?

In a word, no.

 

[Sensamic]

For someone not upgrading that often (5/6 years with a Pro) I think it should be a concern. Most people here do upgrade every 2/3 years it seems, so I don’t expect them to worry about this particular issue.

 

[Hunter5117]

I have an old iPad 4th generation that I have had for I guess 8 years or so. It now lives at my weekend place and I generally use it for streaming video in bed so it sometimes runs all night if I fall asleep watching something like Youtube that streams continuously. Otherwise it is plugged in all the time. That battery is still good enough to run all night, so I think worrying about iPad battery life is not something I am going to spend a lot of time at.

 

[Nhwhazup]

I had my previous iPad Pro for 5 and never noticed any battery issues. I’m a pretty heavy user and would only charge once a day. My granddaughter is still using it.

 

[baypharm]

No need to think twice about it. Just replace the battery when needed. Even $90,000 trucks need batteries replaced.

 

[Tsepz]

Currently have an iPad 6th gen and wish to upgrade to an iPad Pro 11, but something that concerns me with paying premium prices with portable devices like tablets and laptops is the inevitable battery degradation.

With my current iPad battery is OK but not as great as before. It's been 3 years, so it definitely has battery degradation to some degree. Paying 800$ for a tablet would be ok if it could last me 5/6 years, but I'm sure at some point after 3/4 years battery life will take a big hit like I see with iPhones, Apple Watches, etc.

With the basic iPad it's easier to think that in 3/4 years I can upgrade to the latest basic iPad and get the newer hardware, new battery and new updates, but with the Pro, a good one like the M1 with 8GB RAM, I don't see what more I could need in 5/6 years, but I definitely don't want to pay in the future to replace the battery and have my iPad taken apart for it.

Do users of the Pro think about battery degradation?

Nope. My iPad Air 2 gave me about 5 years before the battery gave out and I expect my 2020 iPad Pro to give me similar usage, however I doubt I will keep it that long, I will probably upgrade from it in 2023 and give this 2020 iPad Pro to one of my siblings or cousins.

Worrying about battery degradation will take ALL the fun out of owning these devices.

 

[rui no onna]

For someone not upgrading that often (5/6 years with a Pro) I think it should be a concern. Most people here do upgrade every 2/3 years it seems, so I don’t expect them to worry about this particular issue.

Depends how heavy your usage is. Also, because iPads have huge batteries, the degree to which they deteriorate isn't as bad as iPhones.

My iPad Pro 10.5 has a fairly worn out battery but I can still use it for hours reading ebooks at my normal brightness (between 0-30%). Meanwhile, my iPhone 7 would go from 100% to shutdown just reading a text message.

Another thing, I keep my old iPads when I upgrade and alternate between multiple iPads (currently 2021 12.9, 2020 Air 4, 2017 12.9 and 2017 10.5). Hence, battery wear gets spread out.

 

[Digitalguy]

For someone not upgrading that often (5/6 years with a Pro) I think it should be a concern. Most people here do upgrade every 2/3 years it seems, so I don’t expect them to worry about this particular issue.

If it worries you, you should adopt measures to mitigate degradation (warning, some people here may say it's not worth it, it's not fun etc., but they can have a big effect of your battery health).
Batteries don't like extremely high or low voltage (100% / 0% or close) and heat.
1. Avoid leaving the battery fully charged or fully discharged (for instance use shortcuts to get a notification when battery reaches a given level, eg. 90%, 30%)
2. If you can, keep your older iPad to use while your new one is charging. You will avoid both deep discharges and using while charging, which can increase heat depending on what you do.

Note: charging to 100% is not bad per se, it's keeping it at 100% that's bad, so leaving it plugged in all night or worse several days.

 

[Sensamic]

Nope. My iPad Air 2 gave me about 5 years before the battery gave out and I expect my 2020 iPad Pro to give me similar usage, however I doubt I will keep it that long, I will probably upgrade from it in 2023 and give this 2020 iPad Pro to one of my siblings or cousins.

Worrying about battery degradation will take ALL the fun out of owning these devices.

This is what I mean. Most people I guess will upgrade in less than 5 years, but there are others that can’t afford to upgrade so often, specially when a purchase is this costly. That’s why I worry about longevity, since from a hardware perspective the new M1 is powerful enough to last many years, except battery degradation won’t allow it.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Currently have an iPad 6th gen and wish to upgrade to an iPad Pro 11, but something that concerns me with paying premium prices with portable devices like tablets and laptops is the inevitable battery degradation.

With my current iPad battery is OK but not as great as before. It's been 3 years, so it definitely has battery degradation to some degree. Paying 800$ for a tablet would be ok if it could last me 5/6 years, but I'm sure at some point after 3/4 years battery life will take a big hit like I see with iPhones, Apple Watches, etc.

With the basic iPad it's easier to think that in 3/4 years I can upgrade to the latest basic iPad and get the newer hardware, new battery and new updates, but with the Pro, a good one like the M1 with 8GB RAM, I don't see what more I could need in 5/6 years, but I definitely don't want to pay in the future to replace the battery and have my iPad taken apart for it.

Do users of the Pro think about battery degradation?

One thing to keep in mind is that while yes, batteries do degrade with time, operating systems usually add more functionality and services - thus giving the appearance of noticed battery capacity loss. iPad OS does a lot more today than it did 3-4 years ago.

My wife and I have had iPad Pros since 2017 and we haven't had issues with batteries going bad. I usually upgrade every other year and my wife is still on her 2018 and has no intention of upgrading until 2023 at least.

This is what I mean. Most people I guess will upgrade in less than 5 years, but there are others that can’t afford to upgrade so often, specially when a purchase is this costly. That’s why I worry about longevity, since from a hardware perspective the new M1 is powerful enough to last many years, except battery degradation won’t allow it.

iPads are one of the more future proof items in the Apple lineup. I know college professors still using their 10.5 pros today - daily. Battery capacity might go down by 15-20% but this doesn't render the iPad useless. I know iPad Air 2s that are still running handfuls of hours of screen on time today. Not sure where you're getting "battery degradation won't allow it" - I've owned and used iPads since iPad 3.

 

[MisterSavage]

Absolutely not. I use my 2018 IPP for hours every day and haven't noticed any battery issues.

 

[reppans]

I averaged >6yrs on my previous 3 iOS devices following this advice. My iPad2 still met an Apple spec ‘10hrs SOT’ after 7.5yrs (but to be fair, it was a very conservative spec and was capable of 15hrs new).

Manually it used to cost me <10sec/day with a light timer, but I’ve now moved to an automation with $10 smart-plug for my ‘battery optimization’ on my iPhone, so no effort other than plugging in once a day.

 

[FHoff]

remember that you cannot just ask to have your battery replaced and pay the money (around $100)
Your battery must be seriously degraded for Apple to accept it.. They will measure the degradation at 80%, but that does not match the measurements of third party apps. In my experience, it's closer to half the battery life you had when it was new... Until you get to that point, you simply cannot have the battery serviced...
And your device must be in good condition, otherwise they'll charge much more.

I have never had an issue having batteries replaced if I’m paying for it.

 

[rui no onna]

One thing to keep in mind is that while yes, batteries do degrade with time, operating systems usually add more functionality and services - thus giving the appearance of noticed battery capacity loss. iPad OS does a lot more today than it did 3-4 years ago.

Unfortunately true. Standby battery life on an aged iPad 4 (iOS 6) was longer than standby battery life on any of my iPad Pros because of all the Siri background stuff. Seems even worse now on iPadOS 13/14 versus iOS 9/10.

 

[Jakewilk]

My ipad pro 2017 is going on its 5th year now and the battery degradation is pretty severe compared to what it was. I think though that with the new chips being so much more efficient, a brand new ipad pro would weather the degradation better since I would be sipping power 90% of the time as opposed to like 50% of the time for my use case. Most frustrating thing these days is that it doesn’t hold the charge on stand by for anywhere near as long as it used to.

 

[ScanTheNavian]

Unfortunately true. Standby battery life on an aged iPad 4 (iOS 6) was longer than standby battery life on any of my iPad Pros because of all the Siri background stuff. Seems even worse now on iPadOS 13/14 versus iOS 9/10.

The standby battery time on my iPad 3 on iOS 6 is ridiculous. I maybe charge it once every two-three weeks if even that. Atleast one bright spot on that weak gadget.

 

[rui no onna]

My ipad pro 2017 is going on its 5th year now and the battery degradation is pretty severe compared to what it was. I think though that with the new chips being so much more efficient, a brand new ipad pro would weather the degradation better since I would be sipping power 90% of the time as opposed to like 50% of the time for my use case. Most frustrating thing these days is that it doesn’t hold the charge on stand by for anywhere near as long as it used to.

I hear you. I pretty much have to charge the Pro 10.5 every 2 days or so even without use. Meanwhile, I think the Air 3 can go more than a week on standby.

One of the nice things about the Air series. Low power iPhone chipset (relatively speaking) paired with large iPad battery makes for pretty good battery life particularly if one doesn't crank up the brightness much.

The standby battery time on my iPad 3 on iOS 6 is ridiculous. I maybe charge it once every two-three weeks if even that. Atleast one bright spot on that weak gadget.

Yeah. I kept my iPad 3 as backup to the iPad 4 (albeit it was so slow so I rarely used it). 1 month standby time sounds about right.

 

[M5RahuL]

I bought the M1 11" Pro a couple of weeks ago from Apple, and traded in my 2017 10.5" IPP. I'll say this, my 10.5" held out much better per full charge ( screen on time ) Vs the M1 ( running 14.7.1 ATM )

I updated to iPadOS 15 Beta, and the battery did indeed get better.. but then rolled back to 14.7.1 due to .. well..CSAM.

Anywho, the stand-by is excellent ( drops maybe 1% after unplugging @ 100% around 10 pm and waking up ~ 7 next day, and not using it till ~ 9ish .. )

I also see the M1 heating up just using You Tube ( app ) and general browsing, and literally see the charge drop almost every 3-4 minutes!

Exchanged the unit at Apple, and it's the same-damn-issue ( set up as new ) with the replacement ( retail since I was still within 14 days ) unit!

One of the reasons I traded in my 10.5 was due to a degraded battery ( bought it at release ) .. Maybe I should've kept that ( didn't have the white spot issue either! )

Oh well..

 

[spiderman0616]

I refuse to worry about things like battery degradation. I used to be a little bit concerned about it with my work MacBook Pro, but smart battery charging has pretty much solved that. In the end, these are disposable items. Yes, you may have paid thousands of dollars for an Apple device, and yes, you might use it for 10 years or more before upgrading to something new, but it's still a tool that you use as long as you can, then recycle/trade-in for something else.

I've actually started treating the battery as the gauge for how long I'll keep the device. I'm still on a Series 4 Apple Watch, for example. When I first got it, the battery was actually able to get me through almost two full days, even if I did a workout. These days, there's a redesign supposedly coming out and my Series 4 battery is sometimes struggling to make it to bed time, so time to upgrade this year. I feel like I'm going to be the same way with my M1 MBA.

I do still upgrade my iPhone every year, but I think I'm going to stop doing that once the next big redesign happens and start sticking with iPhone models for more years at once. At that point, I'll probably only upgrade for redesigns or new batteries.