iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 15 owners, what is your cycle count and battery health?

[jazzzyJeff]

This is pretty much the perfect reply.

I’d rank, perhaps, brightness first, Cellular second, and apps... both first and second. You can have all of the efficiency you like, but if you play the most power-consuming game, battery life will suffer a lot.

Likewise, let’s invert the factors: I’ll grab the most efficient app - in my experience, iBooks - to read a Store-downloaded Book. Crank the brightness to 100%, enable every draining setting and give me one bar of cellular (no internet) connection with the device constantly reaching for an internet connection and... it may be worse than anyone would reasonably expect.

Apps are important, but I’d argue less so than internet connection (wifi, strong<>weak cellular), preferred brightness level, and even feature settings. All four also become even less relevant as the [extrapolated full batt] SOT approaches Apple’s ‘upto’ specs (16hrs for the XR). In other words, if a 13PM owner showed me a set of 28hr ‘upto’ spec (extrapolated) battery graphs at 2.5yo, then I immediately know that battery is in TOP shape, on wifi, using a low brightness, has turned off many power consuming background ‘features’, and is using the most efficient apps - doesn’t matter if the app is a movie player, book reader, crossword puzzle, or surfing the stripped-down Reddit/Tapatalk platforms (my top usage). In comparison, a 13PM owner posting a 9hr (extrapolated) Facebook SOT batt graphs at 2.5yo, has a theoretical 19hrs of lost SOT there - is it all due to FBapp inefficiency? how much is battery degradation? poor cell reception? high brightness? GPS pinging FindMy/AirTags in background? Apple Watch connection?…. IDK, achieving only 1/3 SOT spec leaves an awful lot of wiggle room within which to confuse usage efficiency issues with battery degradation issues.

I personally track my battery degradation by doing full rundown tests (100-50, then 50-0) under normal usage when brand new and when recalibrations are required, and then comparing how SOT is lost over time. So to address your specific questions, here’s a new & 3yo full rundown w/apps. Then dividing AppMins by App% is an excellent objective measurement to rank relative App efficiency, here showing my #2app Safari as ~half as efficient as #1app Reddit/Apollo. But it really depends on what I’m doing with Safari - eg, here showing on skewed days it’s ~25% less efficient - ie, consuming 50% batt vs 40% batt.

Hope that helps

I’m only trying to establish the correlation between individual apps and screen ON time. This assumes that every other variable like brightness or connection strength etc being constant.

Individual factors you mentioned add to the battery drain and that’s a given. This is the reason when people run battery tests they set both the devices to the same brightness and put it in flight mode so external factors don’t skew the results. You cannot solve an equation with more than two variables.

Safari and other browsers are a unique case though as unlike native apps these are used to load all kinds of content including apps and are much more dependent on the content loaded than the app itself.

That being said appreciate the screenshots. Those are objectively among the best usage times.

 

[FeliApple]

I’m only trying to establish the correlation between individual apps and screen ON time. This assumes that every other variable like brightness or connection strength etc being constant.

Individual factors you mentioned add to the battery drain and that’s a given. This is the reason when people run battery tests they set both the devices to the same brightness and put it in flight mode so external factors don’t skew the results. You cannot solve an equation with more than two variables.

Safari and other browsers are a unique case though as unlike native apps these are used to load all kinds of content including apps and are much more dependent on the content loaded than the app itself.

That being said appreciate the screenshots. Those are objectively among the best usage times.

If you go to the extremes, the difference is gigantic, but nobody can provide a blanket reply to this as it depends on the specific apps used, like I said earlier.

Games? iBooks? Something in the middle like a social media app? Something heavier like video playback with an inefficient app? Something closer to iBooks, like light web browsing or a text-based app? The possibilities are too many; the question, too broad to answer, in my honest opinion. It’s situation-specific.

 

[jazzzyJeff]

Games? iBooks? Something in the middle like a social media app? Something heavier like video playback with an inefficient app? Something closer to iBooks, like light web browsing or a text-based app? The possibilities are too many; the question, too broad to answer, in my honest opinion. It’s situation-specific.

This is exactly what I’d been saying. Inefficient or content-heavy apps vs screen time correlation.

And I don’t think I can add to the discussion any more than already did so we can just agree to disagree beyond that.

 

[Dsmith7]

Mine just hit 98% with just 30 cycles. Less than 6 weeks of use. Safe to say I did not hit the battery lotto

 

[svish]

Ouch! 15PM here, November 2023, with 110 cycles as well and my battery health is at 99% (optimised charging on and I have been running betas since day 1)- I'd definitely make an appointment at an Apple Store (I hope you have one nearby).

View attachment 2366433

Would have been ok if the battery was to retain 80% capacity at 500 cycles. But since now it is expected to last 1000 cycles, looks like battery is not in a great shape. Hoping for the best

 

[DaveS86]

Any thoughts on Apple saying these don’t need battery calibration, as in full discharge to charge?

I’m giving it a go and mine is lasting forever on 1%, so there is no way the gauge is accurate….

 

[bigjnyc]

Any thoughts on Apple saying these don’t need battery calibration, as in full discharge to charge?

I’m giving it a go and mine is lasting forever on 1%, so there is no way the gauge is accurate….

That's a contradictory statement from them... I have mine set to 80% limit.. But every so often it charges to 100% and I think that's built in to the software in order to calibrate the battery every once in a while.

 

[slippery-pete]

95% now 💩

I just moved from 96% to 95% today. 15 Pro Max, 209 cycles.

Feel like I moved really quick from 98% to 95%.

 

[Tagbert]

15 pro
launch day
100%
127 cycles

mostly charged on magsafe
charge limited to 80% most of the time

 

[Tagbert]

Mine just hit 98% with just 30 cycles. Less than 6 weeks of use. Safe to say I did not hit the battery lotto

Considering how hard it is to truly determine the capacity of a battery, which is an analog device, I’m not sure that 2% is really beyond the margin of error on these measurements. It may also not change in a linear rate.

 

[bigjnyc]

I just moved from 96% to 95% today. 15 Pro Max, 209 cycles.

Feel like I moved really quick from 98% to 95%.

Your battery is like your username

 

[slippery-pete]

Your battery is like your username

Oh boy that isn't😁 good!

 

[Dsmith7]

Considering how hard it is to truly determine the capacity of a battery, which is an analog device, I’m not sure that 2% is really beyond the margin of error on these measurements. It may also not change in a linear rate.

The girl at apple told me diagnostically the phone is fine and i need to turn on optimized charging. Because its off my battery health is draining quicker..... Hahahaha. So if i keep going like i am ill be around 84% battery health with 250 charges. to apple that is ok

 

[robvalentine]

Apple added the 80% limit for a reason and is suppose to slow down battery degradation, and you don’t need to fret as iOS caps the charge at 80% without you having to watch it 😁

Interested to see if it’s actually helping or not and is a waste of time.



Nice. How have you managed to keep such a low cycle count after 7 months?

I know why they added it, but I've yet to hit 80% battery health even after 2 plus years so I just don't get why you Li.it your battery to what the decline in battery health would take it too..

It doesn’t seem to do much anyway from reading this and other threads

 

[James6s]

I know why they added it, but I've yet to hit 80% battery health even after 2 plus years so I just don't get why you Li.it your battery to what the decline in battery health would take it too..

It doesn’t seem to do much anyway from reading this and other threads

I’m performing a test with the 80% limit and battery decline. My 15 Pro usually gets down to around 30-40% before I plug it back to go back to 80% limit (occasionally 100%) when iOS deems it necessary for calibration purposes.

There’s questions over it’s accuracy but according to the analytics real battery stats the capacity is falling vs the original max capacity and down to 3280mAh. This is now getting close to the rated capacity of 3274mAh so in theory once it falls below this number then the battery health should start dropping in the battery settings app.

I imagine I’ll be there before 50 cycles and if that the case I’ll just stop using the 80% limit.

 

[bigjnyc]

The girl at apple told me diagnostically the phone is fine and i need to turn on optimized charging. Because its off my battery health is draining quicker..... Hahahaha. So if i keep going like i am ill be around 84% battery health with 250 charges. to apple that is ok

So..... You're charging it wrong? 🤣

 

[Dsmith7]

So..... You're charging it wrong? 🤣

Of course i am

 

[James6s]

Caveats… Another mAH down today with real battery stats reporting 3279. Getting closer to the rated from factory 3274mAh on the 15 Pro.

 

[DaveS86]

Caveats… Another mAH down today with real battery stats reporting 3279. Getting closer to the rated from factory 3274mAh on the 15 Pro.

I’d not put any faith in these apps, mine used to say for a while that it was increasing in capacity.

 

[Kobs]

Yes, I had the limit at 80% and I had to charge it to 100% and leave it for about 1 hour, since the capacity had been dropping a little

 

[James6s]

I’d not put any faith in these apps, mine used to say for a while that it was increasing in capacity.

That’s why I put caveats. Mine was increasing too but dropping faster lately. All over the place lol

Yes, I had the limit at 80% and I had to charge it to 100% and leave it for about 1 hour, since the capacity had been dropping a little

View attachment 2367780

Why did you have to charge it to 100% and leave it?

 

[Kobs]

That’s why I put caveats. Mine was increasing too but dropping faster lately. All over the place lol



Why did you have to charge it to 100% and leave it?

To increase mAh, for some reason with the 80% limit it had dropped and had to be recalibrated or something, with coconutbattery I was seeing in real time how the capacity increased even though the phone showed 100% charge. Now I have the limit at 80% and it remains at 4513

 

[James6s]

To increase mAh, for some reason with the 80% limit it had dropped and had to be recalibrated or something, with coconutbattery I was seeing in real time how the capacity increased even though the phone showed 100% charge. Now I have the limit at 80% and it remains at 4513

Ah ok I see what you mean now 😁 it sounds like the phone was forgetting about the unused mAh and reducing capacity! Doubt it though… Mine has done a few 100% calibration charges whilst on the 80% limit, but very hit & miss with iOS in charge of it. Just done a 100% charge myself.

 

[Zest28]

Still 100%, 3 weeks after launch date.

What happened to the stories about the iPhone 15 Pro Max overheating and killing the battery due to Titanium?

 

[MacCheetah3]

with coconutbattery I was seeing in real time how the capacity increased even though the phone showed 100% charge.

This will happen quite often, at least for the majority of the battery’s useful existence. Go through the battery threads on this forum and look at all of the coconutBattery screenshots, see how the values decrease and increase what could be described as “wildly” and seemingly impossibly. Well, that’s because there are a lot of very dynamic variables in batteries.

Lithium-ion battery aging is a complex process that can result in capacity degradation and reduced power capability. There are many factors that can contribute to battery aging, such as the formation of a solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film at the electrode/electrolyte surface, destruction of the electrode structure, lithium deposition, a phase change of the electrode material, dissolution of the active material, and electrolyte decomposition [40]. As the cycle number increases, charge/discharge voltage curves, incremental capacity curves, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy can all be altered. Many machine learning algorithms extract features for battery health estimation based on these curves. In this section, we focus on using signal processing techniques to extract features from the discharge voltage curves.

Predicting the Cycle Life of Lithium-Ion Batteries Using Data-Driven Machine Learning Based on Discharge Voltage Curves

Battery degradation is a complex nonlinear problem, and it is crucial to accurately predict the cycle life of lithium-ion batteries to optimize the usage of battery systems. However, diverse chemistries, designs, and degradation mechanisms, as well as dynamic cycle conditions, have remained...

www.mdpi.com

Look at an analytics log, such as the partial one I included in post #168. And even with monitoring and considering those vast number of factors, it’s impossible to perfectly measure a battery’s state of charge. So, you can probably understand why predicting an unusable state or failure is going to be nowhere near consistent/accurate — well, this applies to a lot or most technology but anyway. Speaking of accuracies… coconutBattery is a useful troubleshooting tool, at times, but it’s only fetching data for that moment — which, as was just noted, varies frequently. While still a guesstimate, the iOS/iPadOS/macOS/etc battery health calculations are still going to be reference because they account for a past data as well.

Last but not least another reminder:

[...] battery degradation is not linear; the capacity will drop a little quicker at first, the endurance will level off (for the most part), then plummet.

Not iPhone test results but here’s a fair representation of capacity to usage:

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Capacity-degradation-curves-of-No-35-No-36-No-37-and-No-38-batteries_fig1_335439643

My iPad 6th generation graph:

I didn’t routinely log with coconutBattery until December 2020, and primarily only do so with point OS releases.