Apple says the iPhone 15 has a better battery, but doesn’t say how.

It looks like iPhone 15 owners received some great news yesterday. The long-term battery health is better than Apple originally claimed. In fact, it’s twice as good! The company is now touting even higher numbers for battery life.The problem is that we don’t that’s right I’m not sure if batteries have gotten that much better or if Apple just changed the way they describe and test batteries.

According to reports 9to5 mac, Apple has retested the iPhone 15 and 15 Pro batteries and claims they can retain at least 80 percent of their original capacity over 1,000 charge cycles. This is double the originally claimed 500 cycles. Batteries naturally degrade over time, so extending their lifespan is welcome news. This is especially noteworthy since iPhone 14 owners started reporting unexpectedly low battery health after less than a year of use.

But battery life has a lot of variables, and it’s unclear whether the new battery is better or if Apple is starting to test batteries differently.

Apple currently touts both iOS and its website that the 1,000 cycle figure is achievable under “ideal conditions.” This is different from how Apple used to advertise its promise of 500 cycles achievable under “normal conditions.” It now appears that the term “normal conditions” has been removed from his Apple website and replaced with the term “ideal,” including when referring to older phones. Battery claims that previously had no certification standards now specify that “ideal conditions” are required. His one instance of this language was still visible on the support page yesterday, but has since been updated. The Verge I emailed them asking for clarification on the test conditions.

There are obvious differences between how you use a regular phone and an ideal phone. It’s not clear whether Apple’s wording changes also reflect changes in testing.The company declined to comment on the record when we asked about it. 9to5 mac It reports that the improved battery health is due to “continuous updates to battery components and power management systems over the years,” but this is open to a lot of interpretation.

It’s highly unlikely that Apple is making something up here. There’s no doubt that the iPhone 15’s battery can maintain its promised capacity for up to 1,000 charge cycles under certain conditions, but it’s good to know. what Those conditions come with it. Apple’s support page mentions the phone’s built-in software features to preserve battery life, and the iPhone 15 includes an option to limit charging to 80% to preserve long-term performance. Masu. Perhaps checking that option in the settings menu is “ideal”, or in fact a more controlled lab setting may be ideal.

Battery health is a difficult concept to convey because there are many variables involved. Apple has been under immense pressure to give users more data after battery issues were found to be slowing down older iPhones. But raw numbers like charge cycles and percentage of original capacity can be difficult to understand without context. And are there any claims that the battery’s health is suddenly better than originally thought? This might be worth a little more context.