iPad Pro Why doesn’t Apple ever significantly improve battery life?

[Lounge vibes 05]

Battery health isn’t why. It’s because Apple has run out of silicon ideas.

What does this even mean.
The M4 is more efficient than the M2.
It’s also in a significantly thinner body.
But at the end of the day, we are still talking about year-over-year improvements, which aren’t going to be major no matter who is making the processor.

 

[leifp]

You seriously think the m4 11” model is too heavy? It weighs less than a pound.

I do. Numbers are very exciting! But too heavy is too heavy… except when it’s not. And I’d prefer to constantly reduce situations where I find it too heavy. For example, lying prone using it as a tablet: too heavy! With the keyboard on my lap or a table: just fine…

 

[rui no onna]

You seriously think the m4 11” model is too heavy? It weighs less than a pound.

Depends on how you’re holding it.

In landscape resting on my tummy with the SmartFolio cover folded acting as stand, it’s fine.

Portrait mode holding it in one hand, that’s when I reach for the mini 6.

 

[heretiq]

I have a fully loaded M4 iPad Pro here, and the biggest thing that’s disappointing about it besides the lack of Mac apps and OS customization is the battery life. The iPad has always been rated for 10 hours of battery life since the original iPad, but with the introduction of the M1 chip in the 2021 iPad Pro, since it resulted in a big battery boost in the Macs, it should’ve been a perfect opportunity to greatly improve the iPad’s battery. If the M1 wasn’t good enough, why couldn’t Apple give the M4 iPad Pro the battery boost it deserved? The M4 is a 2nd gen 3nm N3E chip built on ARMv9.4 architecture, which should make it more efficient. It’s the biggest chip upgrade since the M1, but instead, the battery life remained the same.

To make things worse for the battery (but better for battery health overall), Apple introduced a long-overdue toggle to limit charging to 80%. I keep that setting on all the time. The problem is that the iPad doesn’t even last 10 hours. Once you factor in the 80% charge limit, and the fact that it‘s not recommended to ever let your device fall below 20%, that brings the battery life of the iPad down to 2-5 hours, which is pathetic. Is anybody else bothered by the lack of battery improvement in the iPad Pro? Why doesn’t Apple want to give the iPads (or at least the Pros) decent battery life?

Your M4 iPad Pro battery experience doesn’t reflect mine. I use my iPad Pro and MacBook Pro 50/50 during the day for work (primarily Note taking using NotePlan, messaging via Teams, creating and editing Word documents, web activities using Safari, prototyping with Swift Playgrounds and as an untethered development test device which can be battery hungry) and charge the device to 80% once per day.

The difference may be due to differing use cases and apps; but I’m happy with M4 iPad Pro battery performance and glad that Apple invested M4 efficiency gains into reduced weight and thinness.

 

[heretiq]

Do people really want ever thinner and lighter iPads? If I had a 13" Pro, I'd be worried about it flexing like my iPad Air 2 does. I take care of it, but have had to bend it flat a few times.

Give me something a bit thicker, with a better battery, and more structural rigidity!

My thinner and lighter 13” M4 iPad Pro actually feels stiffer and more structurally sound than my prior 12.9” M1 iPad Pro. Structural ridgidity is a non-issue in my opinion.

 

[MathersMahmood]

Funny that my pixel has lasted a lot much longer than my 15 Pro Max did

Has it? Which model do you have and are you using any specific settings to get better battery life? I've maxed my screen resolution.

 

[teh_hunterer]

So you’re saying the battery size and iPadOS is holding the iPad Pro back from getting as good battery as the Mac?

Yes, it's called physics.

Why does Apple think the battery life is good enough for the iPad?

Because 10 hours has been the target for iPads since almost forever and clearly everyone is fine with it.

Especially when you factor in the charging limit and the fact you don’t want to go below 20%, you’re not getting all day battery life. Apple seems to target all day battery life for all of their products, but in the case of the iPad, it is not even close

I just use my iPad like a normal person and don't stress about the 20% - 80% nonsense. Life is short.

 

[heretiq]

Unfortunately the Tim Cook era of Apple are obsessed with margins. In the case of the M4 its efficiency meant they could put a smaller, cheaper battery in and still get the same ‘10 hours’ as the previous model and thus make more money.

Any CEO that’s not obsessed with margin and encouraging their leaders to do the same should be fired as no business is viable without adequately managing margin. Also, there’s a point of diminishing returns with every product and with individual product features. Professional product managers know these thresholds for their products and help their firms balance buyer utility with firm profitability. The 10 hour battery life objective is one of these points of diminishing returns for both buyer utility and Apple profitability.

 

[heretiq]

Is 60 total cycles too low for device usage by now, since I got it as soon as it came out?

I bought my 13” M4 iPad Pro on launch day, May 15 — which was 101 days ago. My cycle count is 69. That equates to 1.46 days per charge. And that’s with heavy usage every day as a productivity, development and personal use device. It Seems you are getting even better battery results than me if you bought yours on launch day .. and I’m very happy with my M4 iPad Pro.

 

[Ctrlos]

Any CEO that’s not obsessed with margin and encouraging their leaders to do the same should be fired as no business is viable without adequately managing margin. Also, there’s a point of diminishing returns with every product and with individual product features. Professional product managers know these thresholds for their products and help their firms balance buyer utility with firm profitability. The 10 hour battery life objective is one of these points of diminishing returns for both buyer utility and Apple profitability.

There isn’t anything wrong with making money. But when a £250 Android phone has more mod cons that your £800 iPhone we have to ask if the penny pinching has gone too far

 

[sleeptodream]

But there are countless battery packs already widely available.

people like official apple accessories, what can i say

regardless, just saying, dont build a 20 hour battery into it to appease the 5% that need it or are neurotic enough about battery degradation to only use 60% of the capacity (im borderline one of those people, but im not gonna complain about battery life because i know its self inflicted lol)

 

[brofkand]

What does this even mean.
The M4 is more efficient than the M2.
It’s also in a significantly thinner body.
But at the end of the day, we are still talking about year-over-year improvements, which aren’t going to be major no matter who is making the processor.

Wake me up when the M4 tech makes it into iPhones. As it is both the 14 and 15 series iPhones were regressions.

 

[heretiq]

There isn’t anything wrong with making money. But when a £250 Android phone has more mod cons that your £800 iPhone we have to ask if the penny pinching has gone too far

Hmm .. I‘m unaware of an Android phone that matches your description. Can you name the Android phone and the comparable iPhone model you are referring to?

 

[TgeekB]

There isn’t anything wrong with making money. But when a £250 Android phone has more mod cons that your £800 iPhone we have to ask if the penny pinching has gone too far

Yes, low budget fragmented Android phones are awesome. 🤣

 

[Marswarrior462]

I bought my 13” M4 iPad Pro on launch day, May 15 — which was 101 days ago. My cycle count is 69. That equates to 1.46 days per charge. And that’s with heavy usage every day as a productivity, development and personal use device. It Seems you are getting even better battery results than me if you bought yours on launch day .. and I’m very happy with my M4 iPad Pro.

Nice

 

[jonnyb098]

I have a fully loaded M4 iPad Pro here, and the biggest thing that’s disappointing about it besides the lack of Mac apps and OS customization is the battery life. The iPad has always been rated for 10 hours of battery life since the original iPad, but with the introduction of the M1 chip in the 2021 iPad Pro, since it resulted in a big battery boost in the Macs, it should’ve been a perfect opportunity to greatly improve the iPad’s battery. If the M1 wasn’t good enough, why couldn’t Apple give the M4 iPad Pro the battery boost it deserved? The M4 is a 2nd gen 3nm N3E chip built on ARMv9.4 architecture, which should make it more efficient. It’s the biggest chip upgrade since the M1, but instead, the battery life remained the same.

To make things worse for the battery (but better for battery health overall), Apple introduced a long-overdue toggle to limit charging to 80%. I keep that setting on all the time. The problem is that the iPad doesn’t even last 10 hours. Once you factor in the 80% charge limit, and the fact that it‘s not recommended to ever let your device fall below 20%, that brings the battery life of the iPad down to 2-5 hours, which is pathetic. Is anybody else bothered by the lack of battery improvement in the iPad Pro? Why doesn’t Apple want to give the iPads (or at least the Pros) decent battery life?

The battery isn’t going to significantly degrade in a couple of years so why not just use all 100 percent of the battery and you’ll get the 10 hours….then in a couple years it’s be more like 7-8 and in 5 years you’d be getting what you get now using all your limitations.

this is like me never filling my gas tank to full and filling up when I get down to a quarter tank and complainin I can only drive 200 miles and always have to fill up.

Just enjoy the damn iPad and use all the battery and you’ll never see the kind of poor battery life you get now for like 5 years.

 

[Ctrlos]

Yes, low budget fragmented Android phones are awesome. 🤣

They’re better than you’d think. The £250 CMF Phone is 90% of an iPhone for 30% of the price.

The original point still stands: Apple has been short changing its customers at every level for years and we should all be sick of it. A 120hz screen and faster charging are not ‘Pro’ features. We should be demanding better value from the base models and better innovations on the top ones.

 

[TgeekB]

They’re better than you’d think. The £250 CMF Phone is 90% of an iPhone for 30% of the price.

The original point still stands: Apple has been short changing its customers at every level for years and we should all be sick of it. A 120hz screen and faster charging are not ‘Pro’ features. We should be demanding better value from the base models and better innovations on the top ones.

I’ve used quite a few Android phones. For years I used both Android and iOS and would switch off. They are not, in my estimation and experience, anywhere close. Android throws a bunch of “features” they know will entice people into a fragmented system that has the smoothness of a category 6 rapids. iPhones are designed, on purpose, to bring a smoother and more integrated experience. Perfect? Absolutely not, but I’ll tale it over the mess of Android any day.
To each his own though and if you believe as you do I don’t know why you would still be using iPhone. It seems like a no brainer if they are “90% as good as iPhone for 30% the cost”.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Wake me up when the M4 tech makes it into iPhones. As it is both the 14 and 15 series iPhones were regressions.

It already has.
I don’t think people realize what the “M” processors actually are. They are literally, no exaggeration, bigger iPhone chips.
The M1 is just an A14X.
The M2 is basically an A15X.
The M3 and M4 are basically the A17x and A18X.

Just compare them, it’s not that difficult.
The M chips, especially the baseline ones, are simply just that years A chip with more cores at higher clockspeeds and more specific controllers for those computers like thunderbolt.

 

[Ctrlos]

I’ve used quite a few Android phones. For years I used both Android and iOS and would switch off. They are not, in my estimation and experience, anywhere close. Android throws a bunch of “features” they know will entice people into a fragmented system that has the smoothness of a category 6 rapids. iPhones are designed, on purpose, to bring a smoother and more integrated experience. Perfect? Absolutely not, but I’ll tale it over the mess of Android any day.
To each his own though and if you believe as you do I don’t know why you would still be using iPhone. It seems like a no brainer if they are “90% as good as iPhone for 30% the cost”.

Android has come a long way. NothingOS is really good, even on low hardware.

But Apple still being cheap on VRR and mah isn’t on.

 

[Basic75]

Apple reads its buyers via market research and provides the battery life/weight/thickness buyers seem to want.

Apple reads its buyers via market research and provides the battery life/weight/thickness that maximises their profits.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

A 120hz screen and faster charging are not ‘Pro’ features. We should be demanding better value from the base models and better innovations on the top ones.

These types of decisions, to leave out certain features on the lower end models, isn’t just simply because of money. Of course, it is because of money in the end, everything is.
But also as this video demonstrates (and several others as well) it’s not something the vast majority of customers who will be getting this phone on a contract for a discount are going to care about or ever notice.
Same goes with charging and data speeds, of course these phones *could* and from a technological standpoint probably should have faster speeds, but when 90% plus of your customer base is just uploading their pictures right to Facebook and never plugging their phone into a computer, there’s absolutely no incentive to do so.
Some nerds (who were already going to buy the “Pro” phone anyway) will be happy that a spec on a spec sheet went up, but that’s it.

 

[TgeekB]

Android has come a long way. NothingOS is really good, even on low hardware.

But Apple still being cheap on VRR and mah isn’t on.

LOL. Android is and always will be an open source nightmare that does not provide an overall excellent experience. But again, instead of complaining, just get that awesome cheap Android phone and live it up!

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

But again, instead of complaining, just get that awesome cheap Android phone and live it up!

Yeah, this is what I never understand.
“Apple is so bad, look at all these random specifications their $200 phones have that Apple’s $1000 phones don’t.”
So… buy them?

… then you remember that Apple is still providing updates to phones from 2018 going into 2025, you can still get replacements for those 2018 phones, and you can even still sell those 2018 phones and get a little bit of money.
Are any of these things even slightly true about the $200 Androids?
It’s the decades old “you can get a Windows PC but the same power as a Mac for 1/5 the cost” argument. Yes, you can. But you also get what you pay for.

 

[Ctrlos]

LOL. Android is and always will be an open source nightmare that does not provide an overall excellent experience. But again, instead of complaining, just get that awesome cheap Android phone and live it up!

I still don’t understand the argument. I’m pointing out Apple don’t provide great value to their customers at the base level or the Pro. How great a £250 Android phone is is beside the point: Apple are using hardware features it has to hawk £1300 phones.

As customers we deserve better.