iPhone 16 Pro And Pro Max Rumored Upgrade Could Curb Battery Life Anxiety

Apple's iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max smartphones are now reported to have markedly larger batteries, with the Pro scoring the largest capacity increase of the two compared to the previous generation. Could this mean greater endurance away from your charger, or are the larger batteries needed for higher power demands from the phones themselves?

In what might be most succinct post by leaker Instant Digital (via Weibo), readers were given unconfirmed but plausible information that the battery capacities for a couple of iPhone 16 models could be increasing. Specifically, the iPhone 16 Pro Max will see a bump to 4,676 mAh (compared to 4,422 in the iPhone 15 Pro Max), whereas the iPhone 16 Pro could be rocking 3,577 mAh (versus 3,275 mAh in the iPhone 15 Pro). 

Regardless of which model shoppers end up with, the 9.25% and 6% bumps (Pro and Pro Max respectively) could very likely bring longer endurance away from the charger. With Apple already invested in stacked battery tech on the iPhone 15, we're thinking that at least the iPhone 16 Pro series' stacked cells will get an upgrade. Stacked batteries in smartphones are still relatively rare, but the technology benefits from increased lifespan, as well as higher density in an equivalent space compared to wound batteries.

Obviously, how many hours of potential use the bigger batteries add, especially combined with the new A18-series SOC, won't be known for a while. After all, the iPhone flagships are expected to rock bigger displays (Pro: 6.3-inches, Pro Max 6.9-inches) plus Apple's own take on built-in generative AI that could affect those endurance numbers. 

While Apple played down AI (or Apple Intelligence in its parlance, naturally) in the recent WWDC24 announcement event, Tim Cook was clear that Apple's generative AI is expected to grow from an initial small subset of functions, which means the iPhone 16 Pros need and have the hardware to handle some of added load from Apple Intelligence's suite.

Besides the batteries and display upgrades, it's looking like the iPhone 16 series may hold more major changes, such as having completely capacitive buttons for a cleaner look (with possibly a single physical "Capture" button), a new periscope telephoto lens in the Pro Max, and Wi-Fi 7 support, to name a few.