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Heat_Fan89

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 23, 2016
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For those who've owned both, what has been your experience? Are the M2 complaints on Amazon real regarding fast battery drain?
 

darngooddesign

macrumors P6
Jul 4, 2007
18,366
10,122
Atlanta, GA
Its hard to say right now, because new M2 iPads will do a lot of spotlight indexing and other housecleaning in the background which will impact battery life.
 

papbot

macrumors 68020
May 19, 2015
2,305
1,078
I had the M1 and now the M2 and haven’t noticed any change in battery life with my usage. I no longer have the M1 so can’t do a side by side comparison but subjectively seems identical, certainly no noticeable issue whatsoever.
 
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FeliApple

macrumors 68040
Apr 8, 2015
3,684
2,089
The M1 iPad Pros never had stellar battery life, but both standby and active use has tanked on iOS 16.1 for me.
Interesting. There was a massive leap in battery life with the iPhone Xʀ. Back when it was released, I wondered whether iOS updates would continue to obliterate battery life even to the Xʀ. I quickly realised they would, with iOS 13 already being pretty poor (for the first time since the iPhone 7, the first major update was not great). From then on I figured they’d continue to obliterate battery life regardless of the device, with the 11 Pro Max suffering the same fate even with a much better battery life.

Naturally, the next step of evolution was the M1 chip. A desktop-level chip on iOS? Cool. I wonder, once again, whether iOS updates will obliterate battery life. Naturally, the reply to that was consistent, like it’s been since the beginning: yes. Yes it will. Yours isn’t the first report of that I’ve read, so the iPad Pro 5th Gen hasn’t been spared either.

Can you tell me how many hours of screen-on time you were getting on iPadOS 15 and how many you’re getting now on iPadOS 16? What’s the difference exactly? That’s something I haven’t been able to find out. Thank you!
 
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Heat_Fan89

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Feb 23, 2016
2,930
3,817
Thanks everyone for confirming battery life on the 12.9" Pro. I received my 12.9" Pro, installed 16.1 and noticed the battery was draining quicker than on my budget iPad's. It seemed to be on par with my Galaxy Tab S7+ which has a OLED display. I have always felt performance on the S7+ for a large battery at 10000Mah was rather meh. The Pro seems to be about the same.
 

brofkand

macrumors 68000
Jun 11, 2006
1,961
5,377
i(Pad)OS 16 has killed battery life of all my devices. I wish I had stayed on 15.

These half baked new features (most of which I do not need nor foresee myself ever needing) are not worth the daily hassle of more frequent charging.
 
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Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,711
4,491
Here
Interesting. There was a massive leap in battery life with the iPhone Xʀ. Back when it was released, I wondered whether iOS updates would continue to obliterate battery life even to the Xʀ. I quickly realised they would, with iOS 13 already being pretty poor (for the first time since the iPhone 7, the first major update was not great). For then on I figured they’d continue to obliterate battery life regardless of the device, with the 11 Pro Max suffering the same fate even with a much better battery life.

Naturally, the next step of evolution was the M1 chip. A desktop-level chip on iOS? Cool. I wonder, once again, whether iOS updates will obliterate battery life. Naturally, the reply to that was consistent, like it’s been since the beginning: yes. Yes it will. Yours isn’t the first report of that I’ve read, so the iPad Pro 5th Gen hasn’t been spared either.

Can you tell me how many hours of screen-on time you were getting on iPadOS 15 and how many you’re getting now on iPadOS 16? What’s the difference exactly? That’s something I haven’t been able to find out. Thank you!
Well, it varies wildly depending on what I’m doing. For casual web browsing, streaming video on the treadmill, etc. I was getting about 5/6 screen time charging every other day.

Currently I get 4/5 and need to charge nightly. Standby took a major hit.
 

FeliApple

macrumors 68040
Apr 8, 2015
3,684
2,089
Well, it varies wildly depending on what I’m doing. For casual web browsing, streaming video on the treadmill, etc. I was getting about 5/6 screen time charging every other day.

Currently I get 4/5 and need to charge nightly. Standby took a major hit.
Half? From 12 hours to 5 with your usage and heavy standby drop? Wow, this is the first time I’ve read something as significant as that. Can you share a screenshot of the last 24 hours battery graph, please?
 

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,711
4,491
Here
Half? From 12 hours to 5 with your usage and heavy standby drop? Wow, this is the first time I’ve read something as significant as that. Can you share a screenshot of the last 24 hours battery graph, please?

I will next time I have one. Just got it off the charger so it's skewed.

Let me clarify - if I only use it for some light web browsing, books, etc at 30% brightness then I can get 8 to 11 hours. However, if I bump that up to 50% or 65%, watch HDR video, or try and be productive it'll be down I about 4-5 hours.

In standby I lose about 2% per hour for some reason.
 

FeliApple

macrumors 68040
Apr 8, 2015
3,684
2,089
I will next time I have one. Just got it off the charger so it's skewed.

Let me clarify - if I only use it for some light web browsing, books, etc at 30% brightness then I can get 8 to 11 hours. However, if I bump that up to 50% or 65%, watch HDR video, or try and be productive it'll be down I about 4-5 hours.

In standby I lose about 2% per hour for some reason.
Wow,yeah, that’s not great. Light web browsing and books at 30% brightness is one of the lightest possible uses. It should be above 14 hours, 8-11 is still a little low. Heavy use can give 5 so that’s depend on the usage, but yeah, it doesn’t sound good.

2% per hour? Yeah, there’s definitely something wrong. I typically lose 0% overnight. (iPad Air 5, iPadOS 15.6)
 
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