New 2024 iPads Still Have 10 Hours of Battery Life

[JPack]

We overestimated the importance of node size and did not fully understand what it meant to jump from intel to Apple Silicon at the time.

We thought it was the node size dictating a lot of the energy consumption, when the architecture (ARM) is actually the main culprit. The significant jump in battery life compared to intel also cemented that Apple could pull a more significant battery life improvement each generation compared to intel. Albeit with a smaller significance than the first jump it is still at least 1+ hour per generation. With a node size reduction we were drowning in hype that it could be 3+ hours of battery life improvement.

Low and behold it was actually the initial architectural shift that dictated such a jump (x86 > ARM). Apple is no magical company, it was just intel being stuck to x86 that they had such piss poor battery life. To intel's credit they did improve battery life incrementally each node and minor architecture shift.

The truth is each architectural jump is more like a plateau. This is ARM's plateau of battery life where it will fluctuate little by little with each optimization. Depending on form factor as well of course. If we want to have another massive jump of 3+ hours we would either need a 10-20% increase in battery capacity for each form factor or jump to a whole new more efficient architecture (RISC V?).

This is my current understanding with my limited knowledge so I might be wrong.

The vast majority of consumers don't understand nodes and didn't realize transistors stopped shrinking in a linear manner since about 45nm. Back when we were talking 90nm or 65nm, those improvements in performance and power were real. Anything today called 14nm or 3nm doesn't have a single transistor at that size. It's purely marketing.

Intel's bread and butter is servers. Those Xeons are extremely high margin. x86 continues to lead performance when power doesn't matter.

 

[Gelam]

The vast majority of consumers don't understand nodes and didn't realize transistors stopped shrinking in a linear manner since about 45nm. Back when we were talking 90nm or 65nm, those improvements in performance and power were real. Anything today called 14nm or 3nm doesn't have a single transistor at that size. It's purely marketing.

Intel's bread and butter is servers. Those Xeons are extremely high margin. x86 continues to lead performance when power doesn't matter.

I see so we have reached the point of diminishing returns for node size a while ago. Whats the most important factor for power efficiency today in your opinion?

 

[Gelam]

iPads’ battery life has improved massively thanks to hardware efficiency... with light enough use.

My 9.7-inch iPad Pro got 14 hours of light use on iOS 9. My iPad Air 5 gets about 25 hours of SOT with the same light use on iPadOS 15.

Heavy usage has always overcome any processor efficiency - you can kill any iOS device very quickly if usage is heavy enough.

I don’t care about Apple’s rating, it’s nonsensical. The 9.7-inch iPad Pro doesn’t have the same battery life as the iPad 4 on iOS 6, which doesn’t have the same battery life as the iPad Air 5 on iPadOS 15. Apple says all three models have the same battery life. Nonsense.

Battery life if astonishing since M1 processors if you’re a light enough user. Heavy usage will never give good battery life.

Not even one of the best iOS devices ever - the iPhone 13 Pro Max on iOS 15 - can withstand extremely heavy usage with good battery life.

What did you do to get that many hours?

Also the iPad Pro 11" in the past few generations have proven to be more battery optimized than the 12.9". The 11" usually outlast the 12.9" despite the 12.9" having a significantly bigger battery.

I hope that the new 13" will have a longer battery life than the 11" considering they have the same display tech now.

Also I am planning on using the M4 iPad leisurely so I hope I get 10hrs+ on cellular. From what I heard the old 12.9 have really bad battery life even with light load.

And it had a TN LCD panel, which meant horrible viewing angles.

Ah the glorious TN panel.

They showed Procreate in the presentation. On my M2 iPad Pro Procreate really gobbles the watts and can take the iPad Pro from 100% charge to 5% in about 3.5 hours. Is Procreate on the M4 iPad Pro better?

I doubt it will be better. It will probably have similar battery life to your M2 IPP.

 

[PurringPigeon]

I’m hoping for better battery life. My M1 iPad Pro 12.9 dies quickly 3-4 hours max, sometimes less. using only procreate. I’ve logged bugs with procreate but they tell me it’s normal with such a computational program as that. If I turn brightness to 35-40% light load can get it all day battery power. But I’ve been very disappointed in the M1 chip in the iPad. My previous iPad Pro 3rd gen (first one with Apple Pencil 2) got much longer battery life with the Ax whatever chip was in it. So hopefully the M4 13 inch will deliver on good 10 hours with something like a procreate.

 

[Gelam]

I’m hoping for better battery life. My M1 iPad Pro 12.9 dies quickly 3-4 hours max, sometimes less. using only procreate. I’ve logged bugs with procreate but they tell me it’s normal with such a computational program as that. If I turn brightness to 35-40% light load can get it all day battery power. But I’ve been very disappointed in the M1 chip in the iPad. My previous iPad Pro 3rd gen (first one with Apple Pencil 2) got much longer battery life with the Ax whatever chip was in it. So hopefully the M4 13 inch will deliver on good 10 hours with something like a procreate.

You mean for your 12.9 M1:
Light usage - 35-40% brightness = all day battery? 10+ hours?
Procreate - x brightness = 3-4 hours?

Your 3rd gen 12.9 A12X bionic:
Light usage - x brightness = all day battery? 10+ hours?
Procreate - x brightness = 10 hours battery?

 

[subjonas]

They have been prioritizing other things like performance and lightness. There are always compromises. Their design goal seems to be 10 hours of battery while improving the other factors. How often do we need longer battery life? With USB-C a charger is usually pretty close at hand.

Yeah I think it’s pretty clear that Apple has locked that 10 hour battery life dial so that they can focus on tinkering with other dials. I can only see battery life improving if there is a huge leap forward in power efficiency, like what happened with AS Macbooks. Although it’s possible that Apple was never really satisfied with the battery life of Intel Macbooks.

 

[Gelam]

Yeah I think it’s pretty clear that Apple has locked that 10 hour battery life dial so that they can focus on tinkering with other dials. I can only see battery life improving if there is a huge leap forward in power efficiency, like what happened with AS Macbooks. Although it’s possible that Apple was never really satisfied with the battery life of Intel Macbooks.

We are at the limits of each form factor regarding battery life with ARM architecture. We will need a jump to maybe RISC-V for drastic increase in battery life per form factor I think.

 

[starlabjump]

I hope Apple will add two more hours of battery time to next ipad.

 

[subjonas]

We are at the limits of each form factor regarding battery life with ARM architecture. We will need a jump to maybe RISC-V for drastic increase in battery life per form factor I think.

Wish I knew what that was haha.
But also I forgot, a major breakthrough in battery energy density could of course move that battery life dial. I say major because smaller breakthroughs may have Apple just decreasing battery size to increase thermal capacity of the iPad.

 

[MacFarmer]

About 14 years of technological advancements throughout this entire product line. Still can't get more battery life 🤦‍♂️

dude, you miss the point entirely. On multiple interviews they have said that they aim only for 'full day' battery life. They don't want to make a device with one week battery life! Any improvements in efficiency gets converted to smaller batteries or smaller devices. get this into your system.

I understand some users want their iPads last as long as Nokia 3310. But this was dismissed long time ago, and I think its time to stop wining. Just do not buy it. If enough users will do that, then maybe they will change their mind.

 

[svish]

The thinner chassis/body will not allow for a bigger battery. But good to see similar battery life as that of the outgoing model.

 

[allenvanhellen]

What are you people doing that requires 10 hours or more of battery life on a regular basis???

Working and then commuting? Flying internationally?

 

[John_Blackthorne]

That's just sad.
I mean, it's enough but still. M4 new design, new hardware and still no upgrade in battery life.

Would you rather have less power and more battery? I would, for sure, but this is a/an (allegedly) "Pro" machine, so I am fine with Apple giving it more power.

Both would be nice; laws of physics dictate you can't have both @ the price point you want and still make a profit.

 

[truthsteve]

I find it super funny that people were complaining about the iPad Pro with the keyboard being heavier/thicker than a MacBook Air a few years ago

So Apple took those complaints and addressed them in this product. Now the customers are complaining about how no one asked for this.

Insane.

 

[FeliApple]

What did you do to get that many hours?

Also the iPad Pro 11" in the past few generations have proven to be more battery optimized than the 12.9". The 11" usually outlast the 12.9" despite the 12.9" having a significantly bigger battery.

I hope that the new 13" will have a longer battery life than the 11" considering they have the same display tech now.

Also I am planning on using the M4 iPad leisurely so I hope I get 10hrs+ on cellular. From what I heard the old 12.9 have really bad battery life even with light load.

Light use, low brightness, content consumption (Netflix, web browsing, etc). Battery life has only been a problem for me when Apple forces me to update my devices. There’s an A9 bug on iOS 9 in which devices with that processor are forced out of iOS 9. My 9.7-inch iPad Pro and my iPhone 6s were both forced out of iOS 9 (I never update anything), and battery life dropped to 10-11 hours with this light use on the iPad. Battery life which, by the way, I think is half-decent but not great.

Yeah, I’ve never used a larger iPad but perhaps the screen is too much of a battery drainer. I don’t know how close it is to the 11-inch, though.

I doubt an iPad on its original iOS version with good cellular signal and low brightness would fail to get 10 hours with light use (the one I described above). But it still depends on your usage.

My iPhone Xʀ running iOS 12 gets about 12 hours of cellular use with outdoor brightness (not max, but higher), so I don’t see why an iPad shouldn’t be able to do that if you don’t crank the brightness to 100%.

I don’t know about iPad battery life much other than my own experience because people tend not to post screenshots. I’ve seen some 1st and 2nd-gen iPad Pros have atrocious battery life when updated. But when new? Usage varies too much. You have people saying they get 5 hours, others post a screenshot of a mediocre 7-8 but with moderately heavy usage, it’s tough to tell. People don’t post enough screenshots.

Unless I personally use them both (which I haven’t), I really can’t say whether the M1 iPad Air is better than the 4th-gen Air on their original iOS version, or the Pro. Or going to the point, how much worse is a 12.9-inch iPad. I would’ve loved to try a 12.9-inch iPad Pro (1st-gen) on iOS 9, but sadly that’s impossible now. That would’ve given me a good reference point.

Battery life typically doesn’t vary on original iOS versions if the processor composition is similar. A family member has a 6th-gen iPad on its original iOS version (iOS 12), and it gets the same 14 hours my 9.7-inch iPad Pro got on iOS 9. The battery may be smaller on the Pro, but iOS 9 is more efficient.

Another example? The iPhone 11 on iOS 13 has similar battery life to my Xʀ on iOS 12.
Now that it was forced out it is obviously worse, like I said. A similar processor setup (A12 vs A13 Bionic).

Differences in efficiency and battery size (like those shown by the 6th-gen iPad over the 9.7-inch iPad Pro) are cannibalised by increased power consumption on newer iOS versions (iOS 12 vs iOS 9).

 

[alongdingdong]

I used to be a huge ipad fan till all apps that i need to frequently use, dont have a dedicated ipad app so you have to 2x blow them up and they look like ****.

Since then i just do everything on the iphone and dont bother because TOO many companies dont make a dedicated ipad app.

 

[Silberbogen]

If you work with Procreate, you have two options with iPads: without energy-saving mode, you're done after around five and a half to six hours, or you can switch on energy-saving mode from the start, which means you lose the advantage of the Pencil's high refresh rate and sampling rate, but you can then work for around nine to nine and a half hours.

So a battery at least twice as powerful would really be necessary. At the moment, my solution is to use two iPads for one day, which is nonsense!

 

[FeliApple]

If you work with Procreate, you have two options with iPads: without energy-saving mode, you're done after around five and a half to six hours, or you can switch on energy-saving mode from the start, which means you lose the advantage of the Pencil's high refresh rate and sampling rate, but you can then work for around nine to nine and a half hours.

So a battery at least twice as powerful would really be necessary. At the moment, my solution is to use two iPads for one day, which is nonsense!

You can’t charge it at all? Two iPads sounds overkill.

 

[brofkand]

With what usage?

It used to not matter. iPads got 10 hours of usage no matter what you were doing with them. Apparently now you have to let the thing just sit there and idle to get 10 hours, or maybe just read static content like an eBook? Is that what you're saying?

 

[neuropsychguy]

The fact that you think 10 hours is realistic tells me you don't know what you're talking about. Hulu at 50% screen brightness will take you from 100% to 50% in two hours. Playing a resource-intensive game will kill your battery even faster.

On what device? I can easily watch 8-10 hours of streaming video on my M1 iPad Air.

 

[dannys1]

 

[czoli]

That's just sad.
I mean, it's enough but still. M4 new design, new hardware and still no upgrade in battery life.

Because we all wanted it thinner, did we ?

 

[TMRJIJ]

dude, you miss the point entirely. On multiple interviews they have said that they aim only for 'full day' battery life. They don't want to make a device with one week battery life! Any improvements in efficiency gets converted to smaller batteries or smaller devices. get this into your system.

I understand some users want their iPads last as long as Nokia 3310. But this was dismissed long time ago, and I think its time to stop wining. Just do not buy it. If enough users will do that, then maybe they will change their mind.

'Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi or watching video' -Apple
That's not a 'full day' battery life if you are doing more professional work like video editing and music creation.

Nobody is saying they want a device to last 'an entire week'. It would be amazing if you could do some actual mid to high-performance work for the entire duration of a plane flight or places without available outlets to use.

Nobody asked for the iPad Pros to be thinner. They're already comfortable to hold at the previous thickness. An extra 2-3 hours of battery life would've been more welcomed and a good selling point.

 

[FeliApple]

It used to not matter. iPads got 10 hours of usage no matter what you were doing with them. Apparently now you have to let the thing just sit there and idle to get 10 hours, or maybe just read static content like an eBook? Is that what you're saying?

It’s always mattered. No iPad gets 10 hours with heavy enough usage.

iBooks is too light, it’s more like web browsing and video content consumption (like Netflix).

With my 9.7-inch iPad Pro, back when it was on iOS 9, I got 22 hours of full iBooks use. Like I said, iBooks is too light.

 

[roar08]

I find it super funny that people were complaining about the iPad Pro with the keyboard being heavier/thicker than a MacBook Air a few years ago

So Apple took those complaints and addressed them in this product. Now the customers are complaining about how no one asked for this.

Insane.

The mob is fickle.