Why are iPhone batteries so shit?

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What A Time To Be Alive

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Okay this probably isn't exclusive to iPhone and there's probably people who have this problem with other phones with non-removable batteries but I've always only dealt with this in iPhones.

Everytime I get a new iPhone it's fine for about a year then after that the battery just goes to shit and can barely hold a charge anymore.

iPhone 4: Got it, was fine for about 8-9 months but after that the battery started to get worse and worse to the point where I could charge it up to 100% and it would hit 0 in less than 2 hours. Around this time I figured out it was bad to leave your phone on the charger after it was fully charge so I kinda blame this one on myself.

iPhone 5s: Was fine for a year then the battery did the same thing. The entire time I had this phone I made sure to take it off the charger after it was done charging. I slipped up a couple times but for the most part I tried hard as hell to keep the battery in this phone going but couldn't.

iPhone 6s: When I got this phone I only charged it during the day let it 100% and took it off the charger immediately. Stopped charging the phone at night since I knew I would leave it on the charger all night due to me being asleep. Still went through the same shit after about 9 months. As of right now, this phone can only last for about 2 hours going off a full charge, maybe 3 if I turn on battery saving mode.

I'm just so fucking sick of it. I know I could change the battery out but it such a hassle to do it myself and possibly void the warranty or have to pay somebody else to replace a battery. Something that used to be so simple to do in a phone I have to contact a company to do. Just makes me mad. Kind of why I don't want to get a iPhone 7 in fear that I will have to deal with this again.

Anyone else dealt with this when it comes to iPhones or phones with non-removable batteries in general?
 
Sounds like you'd be better buying a phone where you can easily pop out the battery and replace it.
 
done on purpose to make you buy the new phone in a year

my 6s battery is the shits and shuts down at 33% now
 
Never happened to me, and I tend to just leave it on the charger until I need to take it somewhere. Maybe your charge cycling habit is the culprit?
 
I've had and seen the exact opposite experience. I have an ancient iPad 2 that still plays several hours of Netflix on a single charge. I got rid of my iPhone 4s when it was nearly five years old and its battery was still chugging along fairly well for its age and considering the load of the newest iOS.
 
Do you use the Facebook app a lot with notifications on?

It's a huge battery killer.

Online anything kills battery quickly too. Sync your music for offline play too.
 
I've never had any battery issues after a year.

In general i find them to have pretty solid battery life
 
Around this time I figured out it was bad to leave your phone on the charger after it was fully charge so I kinda blame this one on myself.
Click to expand...

This is not true. Basically any belief you have about magic things you need to do to keep your battery safe is false. Just charge your phone when you're not using it and and then use your phone when you want to. You don't need any further strategy.

http://lifehacker.com/smartphone-battery-myths-explained-1735327089
(See #2)
 
Jeremy said:
Why are batteries in general such shit? I've been wondering this for a very long time, almost daily.
Click to expand...

Trying to come up with safe and reliable solutions to replace Li-ion batteries has been something researchers have been trying for a while, it's not easy (obviously, otherwise we wouldn't have this problem). It's been up to software and hardware manufactures to make things more efficient and smaller to fit in more battery capacity.
 
Shouldn't you leave it on the charger when you're not using it? I thought constantly charging and draining it wears the battery down faster.
 
my note 4 used to shut down at 40%. Good thing I was able to just buy a 20$ battery and replace it. It's as good as new.

Replacable batteries should be the norm
 
I've had my IPhone 6 almost 2 years now and my battery still works pretty good with heavy use daily. It's only come out of its Otterbox defender case once since I've had it for a thorough cleaning so I've never removed it foe charging or anything like that. I must have lucked out on this one.
 
Stumpokapow said:
This is not true. Basically any belief you have about magic things you need to do to keep your battery safe is false. Just charge your phone when you're not using it and and then use your phone when you want to. You don't need any further strategy.

http://lifehacker.com/smartphone-battery-myths-explained-1735327089
(See #2)
Click to expand...
I basically used my phone as normal with my iPhone 4 and that shit died within months. What your saying is probably true but even then my battery is still going to shit within a year.
entremet said:
Do you use the Facebook app a lot with notifications on?

It's a huge battery killer.

Online anything kills battery quickly too. Sync your music for offline play too.
Click to expand...
I game very rarely on my phone. Really only listen to music, check emails and get on Google Chrome here and there to check out some shit. Mainly listen to music (Saved offline via Spotify Premium)
teruterubozu said:
Yup mine too. Are you constantly gaming OP?
Click to expand...
Nope, very rarely game on my phone.
 
Battery life decreases after several hundreds of charge cycles, however, saying that your iPhone battery can barely hold a charge after about a year does not sound logical to me. I've kept my iPhones for a lot longer and the battery life was fine considering the amount of charge cycles they've had..
 
You're right, they're dreadful. My Dad and sister have complained about their battery life but normally use a Galaxy s6 Edge. I needed to use an iphone 5s for a few weeks and holy fucking shit the battery was awful. It drained so fast and barely any apps were even installed on it. Using the internet or maps would drain that thing like crazy.
 
I was thinking of making a similar thread about my 2015 MBP. A little less than a year old and lately the battery life has been total shit. Almost half of what it used to be. Kind of makes me regret not getting a laptop with a replaceable battery.
 
My shitty old iPhone 4S still lasts >2 hours of media / games use. You're doing something wrong.

Watching HD stream at full brightness & volume?
 
I'm pretty sure this is every phone, and it's usually a combination of OS updates, usage patterns, and battery age. My Xperia Z3 went from lasting two days when I bought it to now only lasting a day and a few hours. It's happened with every phone I've had, and I've had phones from all three
two and one corpse
platforms.
 
demon said:
I was thinking of making a similar thread about my 2015 MBP. A little less than a year old and lately the battery life has been total shit. Almost half of what it used to be. Kind of makes me regret not getting a laptop with a replaceable battery.
Click to expand...

Yeah Macbook batteries are pure shit. That's for sure. My battery life meter is like a countdown clock whenever it's unplugged.
 
BigDes said:
Physics.

We are pretty much at the limit of what we can do with lithium ion batteries in terms of scientific cleverness
Click to expand...

singhr1 said:
Trying to come up with safe and reliable solutions to replace Li-ion batteries has been something researchers have been trying for a while, it's not easy (obviously, otherwise we wouldn't have this problem). It's been up to software and hardware manufactures to make things more efficient and smaller to fit in more battery capacity.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies. I figured there was reasoning behind it but it's weird to think about batteries being at their current limit for sure. Are there any alternatives that have made any headway?
 
low-G said:
My shitty old iPhone 4S still lasts >2 hours of media / games use. You're doing something wrong.

Watching HD stream at full brightness & volume?
Click to expand...
Keep my phone at under half level brightness and whenever I do watch HD streams it's usually only a video or two during the day.

Usually perfer watching videos on my tablet or computer.
 
My 6 plus is amazing with it's battery life. It's 20 months old and can still last 24 hours before I have to charge it again. Regular browsing, no gaming.

Typically batteries will age and have less performance.

My 3gs didn't even make it to the 2 year mark before the battery went shit. Same with my HTC Titan and also my Galaxy S4.

This is the first phone I've had where im satisfied with battery performance after nearly 2 years. Probably cuz the battery in this phone is pretty large.

This isnt an iphone thing only. This happens typically for all batteries. just go get another battery and replace it.
 
My iphone (6S) holds a charge fine, but sometimes dies in seconds depending on network/wifi/4g conditions. If I'm at a big conference, weird traffic and connection attempts seem to suck it dry. And while it can be obvious that one condition or another is hurting the battery drain - wifi on, for example, sometimes it's the opposite condition doing the harm.


Also Apple Carplay is flaky as hell. Get your shit together Apple.
 
What A Time To Be Alive said:
I basically used my phone as normal with my iPhone 4 and that shit died within months. What your saying is probably true but even then my battery is still going to shit within a year.
Click to expand...

Since you've already been susceptible to quack beliefs about battery life, why don't you do people a favour and actually get some numbers. Plug your phone in, charge it to 100% (you do not need to immediately take it off the charger afterwards), unplug it, use your phone as normal, and when it gets down to 10% screenshot the battery life statistics from the settings app. That way people can see if your numbers seem low to them.

The major things that impact battery life are:
- Screen brightness (the top screen brightness settings are for when you're outdoors under the sun, not for regular use).
- Wireless communication, especially attempting to use wifi in a low-signal environment.
- CPU/GPU heavy tasks
- Powering the DAC for music or using the speakers to play music.

Facebook is probably the application with the worst overall battery burden.

If none of those sound like potential culprits and you are certain you actually only get 2-3 hours battery life, you have a lemon battery.
 
I dunno. I can at most make it 60 hours on my year-old 6s Plus before I have to throw it on the charger and I don't really mess with anything except set most apps that use location to "while using," Transit being the exception (always).

Oh, after iOS 10 I did turn Bluetooth off because I don't really use it and Handoff is nice but I'll just stick with iCloud tabs.
 
My 7 Plus has been outstanding even with an Apple Watch paired to it. Compared to the Galaxy Note 7 and Nexus 6P it's been way better. End of a normal workday I'll have 85% left. When I was using the Galaxy Note or Edge 7 i'd be at about 35/40% at the end of the day.
 
demon said:
I was thinking of making a similar thread about my 2015 MBP. A little less than a year old and lately the battery life has been total shit. Almost half of what it used to be. Kind of makes me regret not getting a laptop with a replaceable battery.
Click to expand...
Late 2013 MBP here and I've only used 350 charge cycles (out of 1000). And i've used this computer every day. I think you guys aren't charging/discharging your batteries properly. Go over that Apple batteries link and look at how you're supposed to calibrate it too.
 
demon said:
I was thinking of making a similar thread about my 2015 MBP. A little less than a year old and lately the battery life has been total shit. Almost half of what it used to be. Kind of makes me regret not getting a laptop with a replaceable battery.
Click to expand...

Apple -> About this Mac -> System Report -> Power -> Full Charge Capacity. The stock full charge capacity for an rMBP in 2015 is around 8500-8900mAh. So if you see, say, 4200mAh, you know your battery is tanked. Apple will replace your battery under AppleCare, which you have for free for the first year of ownership.
 
Stumpokapow said:
Since you've already been susceptible to quack beliefs about battery life, why don't you do people a favour and actually get some numbers. Plug your phone in, charge it to 100% (you do not need to immediately take it off the charger afterwards), unplug it, use your phone as normal, and when it gets down to 10% screenshot the battery life statistics from the settings app. That way people can see if your numbers seem low to them.

The major things that impact battery life are:
- Screen brightness (the top screen brightness settings are for when you're outdoors under the sun, not for regular use).
- Wireless communication, especially attempting to use wifi in a low-signal environment.
- CPU/GPU heavy tasks
- Powering the DAC for music or using the speakers to play music.

Facebook is probably the application with the worst overall battery burden.

If none of those sound like potential culprits and you are certain you actually only get 2-3 hours battery life, you have a lemon battery.
Click to expand...
I can do that :)
 
Completely dependent on usage. My Moms phone is 3 years old and still has plenty of battery life for her as her usage is far less than mine.

For me, after a couple of years when the battery life is suffering it's time to upgrade anyway.

It is what it is until a breakthrough in battery tech. As others have said, we've maxed out current tech.
 
I had the iPhone 4 until last Christmas and it was still holding a good charge ¯_(ツ)_/¯

does the environment you are in noticeably affect batteries?
 
Stumpokapow said:
Apple -> About this Mac -> System Report -> Power -> Full Charge Capacity. The stock full charge capacity for an rMBP in 2015 is around 8500-8900mAh. So if you see, say, 4200mAh, you know your battery is tanked. Apple will replace your battery under AppleCare, which you have for free for the first year of ownership.
Click to expand...

Wow that's interesting, never knew about that.

Currently it's at 42%. I've probably done about 2 hours of internet browsing since last night when I unplugged it at 100%. It says the full charge capacity is 6126mAh with 2461 remaining. Is that enough to get a new battery through Applecare?

Also come to think of it I don't think it got this bad until the Sierra update.
 
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