iPad Pro iPad Pro 12.9 2021 - Poor battery life

[Ibara]

I recently bought an iPad Pro 12.9 M1. Apart from being a little annoyed by the edge shadow, I was initially happy.
However the battery life seems rather poor. As an example, browsing the web with both Safari or Brave will use 1% every few minutes. Sometimes even more.

I found a Youtube video comparing an 11 inch M1 with last years for battery tests with some pretty demanding tasks and the guy manages 7hrs 28 minutes on the 11 inch M1. As part of the test he used a 10 hour jungle sounds video on Youtube. I took this video and played it from 100% until flat with the volume at 0 like him. I managed 5hrs 12 minutes which seems very bad considering the 12.9 has a larger battery and I didn't do any of the demanding tasks he did such as exporting 4k video or gaming.

I am getting a replacement tomorrow in the hope it is just bad luck. What is everyone else's experience with the 12.9?

The Youtube video for reference. Final word to say I did a hard reset, removed all background tasks etc.

 

[AutomaticApple]

I recently bought an iPad Pro 12.9 M1. Apart from being a little annoyed by the edge shadow, I was initially happy.
However the battery life seems rather poor. As an example, browsing the web with both Safari or Brave will use 1% every few minutes. Sometimes even more.

I found a Youtube video comparing an 11 inch M1 with last years for battery tests with some pretty demanding tasks and the guy manages 7hrs 28 minutes on the 11 inch M1. As part of the test he used a 10 hour jungle sounds video on Youtube. I took this video and played it from 100% until flat with the volume at 0 like him. I managed 5hrs 12 minutes which seems very bad considering the 12.9 has a larger battery and I didn't do any of the demanding tasks he did such as exporting 4k video or gaming.

I am getting a replacement tomorrow in the hope it is just bad luck. What is everyone else's experience with the 12.9?

The Youtube video for reference. Final word to say I did a hard reset, removed all background tasks etc.

It isn't bad luck. Many other people are experiencing the same issue as you. Replacement devices don't seem to solve the issue.

 

[Stev150]

Any chance you could provide battery usage data if possible , I would like to compare it with my iPad 12.9

i have to say I’m getting around 10 hours usage and that’s also using the magic keyboard.

 

[Tsepz]

I am pretty happy with my iPad Pros battery but in all honesty I don’t think I have ever got as good of battery life was what my iPad 4 used to achieve at all, that thing was a battery life monster on iOS6, it’s battery was huge but iOS was so basic back then that the hardware was barely being stretched so that explains it, these days with these huge 120Hz screens, you are not going to get amazing battery life, IMO, especially with these insanely powerful chips mixed with bright screens, unless Apple begin putting bigger batteries that will make these iPad Pros thicker and heavier, but in all honest I think I would not mind that.

 

[nelcomm]

I would try the default app (Safari) and see if you have the same issue, and also if you have some websites loaded that use a lot of resources. It could be a certain site/browser combo where its using up a lot of battery.

 

[UBS28]

It takes atleast a week for the M1 12.9 iPad Pro to get good battery life. I was also having bad battery life in the beginning (i think you can find my complaints on this forum also).

But now, the battery life is amazing. It will easily do 10 hours doing real work (using remote access). So I can bring this iPad Pro outside somewhere in the park and work all day.

Btw, I got the Wifi model because 5G is known to be a battery drain.

But for even better battery life, it is better to go for the M1 MBA or M1 MacBook Pro.

 

[Stev150]

It takes atleast a week for the M1 12.9 iPad Pro to get good battery life. I was also having bad battery life in the beginning (i think you can find my complaints on this forum also).

But now, the battery life is amazing. It will easily do 10 hours doing real work (using remote access). So I can bring this iPad Pro outside somewhere in the park and work all day.

Btw, I got the Wifi model because 5G is known to be a battery drain.

But for even better battery life, it is better to go for the M1 MBA or M1 MacBook Pro.

This is also my experience first week i was disappointed with the battery but now end of second week I’m happy with it.

 

[macscreenwriter]

I'm talking with tech support right now. A 40% drop a little over two hours is completely unacceptable.

 

[macscreenwriter]

It takes atleast a week for the M1 12.9 iPad Pro to get good battery life. I was also having bad battery life in the beginning (i think you can find my complaints on this forum also).

But now, the battery life is amazing. It will easily do 10 hours doing real work (using remote access). So I can bring this iPad Pro outside somewhere in the park and work all day.

Btw, I got the Wifi model because 5G is known to be a battery drain.

But for even better battery life, it is better to go for the M1 MBA or M1 MacBook Pro.

The M1 MBA with 16gb of RAM is terrific in terms of battery life. Very happy with it.

 

[C. Robert]

I came from a 2020 IPad pro12.9 to the 2021 IPad Pro 1TB 16gb of ram and here is what I notice: Its a faster and thats it. I don‘t notice the weight, the thickness, worse battery life, or the screen. If I put them side by side the maybe I would but I feel like im using the same ipad. Just a tad faster.

 

[Der Keyser]

I find the bettery absolutely horrible to be honest. I have to charge it way more than my iphone.Fx - today sitting in the garden doing som lite browsing/reading. That will make it go from 100% to 0% in about 4 and half half hours.

 

[vagos]

I find the bettery absolutely horrible to be honest. I have to charge it way more than my iphone.Fx - today sitting in the garden doing som lite browsing/reading. That will make it go from 100% to 0% in about 4 and half half hours.

Was it on full brightness then ?

 

[Der Keyser]

Was it on full brightness then ?

Probably yes, But still, light browsing is not exactly resssource intensive otherwise

 

[Artimus12]

Probably yes, But still, light browsing is not exactly resssource intensive otherwise

So set the brightness to Auto and report back

 

[slplss]

Hope I’m not on Kool Aid but I think iPadOS 15 fixed the battery issues for me. No longer I feel the battery should be higher than it is (I’m not using the low power mode).

 

[Sarmy88]

It takes atleast a week for the M1 12.9 iPad Pro to get good battery life. I was also having bad battery life in the beginning (i think you can find my complaints on this forum also).

But now, the battery life is amazing. It will easily do 10 hours doing real work (using remote access). So I can bring this iPad Pro outside somewhere in the park and work all day.

Btw, I got the Wifi model because 5G is known to be a battery drain.

But for even better battery life, it is better to go for the M1 MBA or M1 MacBook Pro.

I have just bought the new 2021 12.9 inch iPad Pro 512gb and have also had the same experience with poor battery performance. I have only had it 5 days. Do you know why the battery life improves after the first week?
I am contemplating sending the iPad to be checked.

Many thanks

 

[SpartaMAC]

Regardless of Covid I work from home. I usually get between 6 to 8 hours outside brightness at 90% or more. When inside I usually get between 8 to 10 hours.

 

[gevezex]

I have the same problem. Reading a simple epub book with books app drained 20% in less then 50min. What I noticed by the way was that the left side bezel of the ipad was getting hot. Not so hot as it was disturbing but hot enough to be worried that that is the reason of the battery drain.
Also surfing on the net with safari gives the same result. I’ve send the ipad 12.9 m1 back to amazon as this is not why I have payed a lot of money.

 

[Lumis]

I have the Ipad Pro 11 M1 and the Battery is incredibly bad. Sometimes the Ipad gets really hot in the center at the back and then it is even worse. I have just made a simple test, no apps running, only at the Home Screen with brightness a little bit below the middle and the battery dropped 1% in 2.47 minutes (timed on the iphone). The Ipad has the Apple Pencil attached and is connected to a bluetooth keyboard and trackpad.

While writing this, the back is already hot and 3 more percentage points are gone. Well, 4 pp now. Never expected this. I have already reset the Ipad but nothing changes. Have also already updated to 15.0.2.

 

[petsk]

Maybe the battery problem is a software bug? Battery on my ten month old 12.9" 2018 was okay until I installed iPadOS 14.7.1 in August. Every single iPadOS version after this is draining my iPad. Battery is draining 20-30% even while in standby mode during night. Anyone with the same experience?

I complained and got a replacement device. I haven't unboxed it yet so I don't know if it was a hardware problem with my old iPad or if it's a software bug.

 

[Queru]

Newly bought M1 12.9 iPad Pro - also abnormal drain in standby. Can't tell you exact numbers, but compared to my old 10.5 I sold to get new one it's noticeably different.

 

[MaciekP]

I can only have around 5-6h from latest m1 12,9 ipad but if you switch on low power mode, CPU will slow down to the level of around 3800 geekbench points instead of 7300 and only 60hz screen refresh rate but you will get full 10h battery life. Performance is still great. It is a shame they didn’t reduce CPU GHz clocking by default to improve battery life. This CPU is too power hungry for ipad. Default cpu clock is 3.20GHz. After low power mode enabled is 1.53GHz

 

[rui no onna]

I can only have around 5-6h from latest m1 12,9 ipad but if you switch on battery save mode, CPU will slow down to the level of around 3800 geekbench points instead of 7800 and only 60hz screen refresh rate but you will get full 10h battery life. Performance is still great. It is a shame they didn’t reduce CPU GHz clocking by default to improve battery life. This CPU is too power hungry for ipad.

I think if CPU makes that big a difference and the iPad's getting hot, then the problem is likely a rogue process running in the background.

Personally, I get more than 10 hours battery with my usage and settings. Indeed, the M1 12.9 has the best battery life I've seen on a Pro model (compared to Pro 9.7, Pro 10.5, 2017 Pro 12.9 and 2018 Pro 12.9).

 

[MaciekP]

Lucky you. I kill backgroud apps. Ipad is not very warm. 50% yotube, 50% safari. Did all updates and it was the same for ios14 and 15

 

[rui no onna]

Lucky you. I kill backgroud apps. Ipad is not very warm. 50% yotube, 50% safari. Did all updates and it was the same for ios14 and 15

Display brightness? I think the Mini-LED display uses more power at high brightness levels.

I'm usually at 0-30% unless I'm using the iPad in the car so I get good battery life.

Mind, even if you kill all background apps, there's still plenty of other processes running in the background.