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Why is the battery life on the iPhone 6s so good?

vertsix

vertsix

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Aug 12, 2015
1,870
6,141
Texas
I don't understand. What evil dark magic did Apple do to the battery or to iOS 9 to deliver such excellent battery life?

I was already extremely impressed with the results on my iPhone 5s after updating, but now the difference is so much more apparent on the 6s.

At this point I'm on my way to getting the same battery life as my Galaxy Tab S, which has a 5x bigger battery (although a much better display too).

EDIT: I couldn't, but it was very close.

Still impressive.

image.jpeg



Stats: TSMC iPhone 6s, iOS 9.3 PB3, set up as new, Background App Refresh turned off, no fetching whatsoever, 30-50% brightness, most apps closed, mostly using texting apps and SoundCloud (little social media).
 
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maxsix

maxsix

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Jun 28, 2015
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dmnc said:
You use your phone 14 hours a day?
Click to expand...
Absolutely I do.

It's a smartphone that I take full advantage of. Phone calls, texting, email, Web research, camera, and that's without streaming. I'm up and active 16 hours a day and that's when I use my phone. A very busy person between work and personal, plus being very mobile I rely on my iPhone 6 Plus. Carry an Anker battery the phone requires two charges, sometimes three.

My iPhone as compared to the Nexus models 5, 6 and 6P that I've used over the last three years reveals iPhone Battery life about average.

Nothing special.
 
richwoodrocket

richwoodrocket

macrumors 68020
Apr 7, 2014
2,133
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Buffalo, NY
I wish I could say the same about my 5c. I get about 1 hour 45 minutes of usage out of it.
A bigger battery is the big draw of the plus for me, but the extra price scares me away. The price should be a lot cheaper than it is, since it costs less to make than the 6.
 
Elisha

Elisha

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2006
781
504
vertsix said:
I don't understand. What evil dark magic did Apple do to the battery or to iOS 9 to deliver such excellent battery life?

I was already extremely impressed with the results on my iPhone 5s, but now the difference is so much more apparent on the 6s.

At this point I'm on my way to getting the same battery life as my Galaxy Tab S, which has a 5x bigger battery (although a much better display too).

Still very impressive.

Stats: TSMC iPhone 6s, iOS 9.3 PB3, set up as new, Background App Refresh turned off, no fetching whatsoever, 30-50% brightness, most apps closed, mostly using texting apps and SoundCloud (little social media).
Click to expand...
You're basically using it as a dumbphone by turning stuff off and you're surprised?
Btw background app refresh doesn't really work on most third party apps so it doesn't really drain too much power to begin with!
 
Cole Slaw

Cole Slaw

macrumors 65816
Oct 6, 2006
1,023
1,580
Canada
I don't have personal experience with the 6S, but I do with the 6 and 6 plus. The battery life on the 6 was rather mediocre, however the 6 plus was outstanding.
Anyway, good for you, though, if you're getting great battery life with your 6S!
 
Michael Goff

Michael Goff

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Jul 5, 2012
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richwoodrocket said:
I wish I could say the same about my 5c. I get about 1 hour 45 minutes of usage out of it.
A bigger battery is the big draw of the plus for me, but the extra price scares me away. The price should be a lot cheaper than it is, since it costs less to make than the 6.
Click to expand...

What? Where are you getting these prices for costs to make?
 
B

BentTable123

macrumors member
Nov 29, 2015
92
23
You do realize the 6S is a huge phone with a huge battery? Samsung galaxy phones are huge too, they get days of battery life as well.
 
C

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,461
maxsix said:
Absolutely I do.

It's a smartphone that I take full advantage of. Phone calls, texting, email, Web research, camera, and that's without streaming. I'm up and active 16 hours a day and that's when I use my phone. A very busy person between work and personal, plus being very mobile I rely on my iPhone 6 Plus. Carry an Anker battery the phone requires two charges, sometimes three.

My iPhone as compared to the Nexus models 5, 6 and 6P that I've used over the last three years reveals iPhone Battery life about average.

Nothing special.
Click to expand...
I'm assuming that's using the phone over the period of 16 hours, not actual use of 14 hours, as that would mean being in the phone for 14 out of 16 hours of the day, which basically doesn't leave much time for even the basic necessities like eating and going to the restroom let alone getting around or doing much of anything else outside of being on the phone.
 
A

alphonseM

macrumors member
Mar 29, 2014
85
38
vertsix said:
Oh no! No more than 7 hours of use!
[doublepost=1455391801][/doublepost]
And that's not decent?
Click to expand...
Well, it is basically the same as what I got out of my iPhone 3Gs years ago, so I couldn't call it "stellar" or an "improvement". I would be excited once we have pushed into the 12h+ - don't think I'm gonna upgrade my iPhone until we do.
 
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bushido

bushido

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Mar 26, 2008
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Germany
dmnc said:
You use your phone 14 hours a day?
Click to expand...

well i dont let it run down all the way to 0 cuz i want to make sure its at 100% when i leave the house again so i charge it around 30ish. Oh and then i charge it before bed of course so it could be 3 times in total

the battery sucks esp. when i take lots of photos or filming. when i was travelling and filmed a lot i could watch the percentages droo by the minute. i basically had it on my battery pack all the way down the 17-Miles Drive

i also do use my iPhone a lot. since i graduated and dont have to write papers anymore i barely touch my Mac anymore and my iPad is basically used for Hulu
 
R

Radon87000

macrumors 604
Nov 29, 2013
7,777
6,255
BentTable123 said:
You do realize the 6S is a huge phone with a huge battery? Samsung galaxy phones are huge too, they get days of battery life as well.
Click to expand...
lol there is so much wrong with this post.Except for the iPhone 6s Plus and 6 Plus,all Samsung Galaxy and iphone 6/s cant even go through a day without charging
 
C

cynics

macrumors G4
Jan 8, 2012
11,959
2,156
BentTable123 said:
You do realize the 6S is a huge phone with a huge battery? Samsung galaxy phones are huge too, they get days of battery life as well.
Click to expand...

Battery sizes for comparison...

iPhone 5S - 1560 mAh

iPhone 6S - 1715 mAh

Samsung S6 - 2550 mAh

iPhone 6S+ - 2750 mAh

Samsung Note 5 - 3020 mAh

I wouldn't consider the iPhone 6/6S batteries "huge". Its actually relatively small vs its direct competition the Samsung S6...
 
zhenya

zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,931
3,681
maxsix said:
Absolutely I do.

It's a smartphone that I take full advantage of. Phone calls, texting, email, Web research, camera, and that's without streaming. I'm up and active 16 hours a day and that's when I use my phone. A very busy person between work and personal, plus being very mobile I rely on my iPhone 6 Plus. Carry an Anker battery the phone requires two charges, sometimes three.

My iPhone as compared to the Nexus models 5, 6 and 6P that I've used over the last three years reveals iPhone Battery life about average.

Nothing special.
Click to expand...

That's unusually heavy use, and I would expect all phones with approximately the same battery to screen size ratios to get about the same life under such a work-load as they are all using the same screen technology, the same batteries, and CPU/GPU's that are all similar in their power requirements under active use.

Where Apple absolutely kills everyone else is on more typical phone use where their significantly lower idle drain means the phones can go days without needing a charge.
 
scapegoat81

scapegoat81

macrumors 6502a
Oct 7, 2012
758
148
Philly
I agree but since I've updated to 9.2.1, battery life has been pretty bad. Can't wait until 9.3 is released. Does anyone have a guesstimate when it'll be out ?
 
Elisha

Elisha

macrumors 6502a
Nov 21, 2006
781
504
zhenya said:
That's unusually heavy use, and I would expect all phones with approximately the same battery to screen size ratios to get about the same life under such a work-load as they are all using the same screen technology, the same batteries, and CPU/GPU's that are all similar in their power requirements under active use.

Where Apple absolutely kills everyone else is on more typical phone use where their significantly lower idle drain means the phones can go days without needing a charge.
Click to expand...
iOS doesn't really keep apps active in the background especially third party apps so there is nothing draining the battery.
There have been many times where I get notifications about FB, Flickr, Twitter, and etc via email but no badges or notifications from the app itself even with background app refresh enabled!
 
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