14 DAY TRIAL // How long does your iPhone battery last? Maybe 12 hours. How often do you charge it? Maybe twice a day, maybe you leave it plugged in through the night and pick it up in the morning. Think about that Nokia phone you used to play with 10 - 15 years ago. It was good for 5 days, and there were times when you would forget where the charger was. Apple changed the way we look at our devices' batteries, and all that matters is to have them working during the day.
Unfortunately, unless a breakthrough in design and science of the battery comes along, I believe there's no future for a better battery life. One day long seems to be good enough.
Fast charging was the trigger
The fact that Apple (and other manufacturers) promised to have a battery that goes up to 80% in the first 30 minutes of charging was compelling enough for some users to take their minds away from the fact that the battery did not last longer. Sure, we all understand how this works: the devices are getting thinner and apps are more power-hungry.
iOS 9 had something to say about battery power, and the Battery Menu in the Settings is helping us find the "bad guys" faster. Facebook got such a bad rap about the fact that it is draining our batteries they had to rewrite their app to use less power. The latest version has dialed that down, but in my experience, Facebook and Facebook Messenger are still the biggest offenders. Over 40% of the battery is going down because of them every day.
And what's worse, the Facebook Messenger app's latest update has introduced an annoying banner on top that forces the user to enable push notifications. Yes, exactly the same push notifications that drain the battery.
Low Power Mode
iOS 9 brings another way of helping you keep the battery under control - Low Power Mode. Apple says this temporarily reduces the power consumption on your iPhone, but you lose some of the functionality. In other words, if you are willing to turn off mail fetch, background app refresh, automatic downloads and some visual effects, you can gain a few tens of minutes of phone usage.
An iPhone power user (no pun intended) knows how to turn off most of the above by themselves, so "Low Power Mode" will not help too much. But the fact the iPhone notifies you to enable that mode when the battery goes below 20% and then again at 10% makes it really useful.
Power-hungry accessories
Your Apple Watch is a great companion to your iPhone, but it is another way to drain the phone's battery faster. Having Bluetooth and WiFi always on and transferring data back and forth will take their toll on your device. iPhone and Apple Watch users have reported a drop of about 20% in normal use.
And talking about the Apple Watch, the new gadget itself has a pretty small battery. Apple has repeatedly forgotten to mention its battery life, and all they've told users is that the watch will last all day.
No detachable battery for you!
The iPhone was among the first devices with a built-in battery. The reasons for that decision were obvious: Apple can make their own batteries and can fit them inside the iPhone with no spaces or latches around. This can provide extra space for the battery itself, and the phone is lighter and slimmer. Against all odds, a built-in battery is actually going to increase your device's daily life.
Another important reason for that is the fact that a detachable battery would have opened a market for third-party accessories that are not good enough. Who would have bought Apple's $29 battery when you can get 6 batteries for the same money on the Chinese black market? Sure enough, the iPhone could have burst into flames or the power supply could have exploded and the blame would have been all on Apple.
Daily life versus thinness
Would you buy an iPhone that is 15 mm thick? That would be more than double the thickness of the iPhone 6s, but it can give you 3 days of battery life. The device itself would be heavier, but you can forget about charging it every night.
I guess most users would go for the thin iPhone, ignoring the extra battery life. And this is how Apple thinks as well.
Take the new iPad pro, for example. With all that extra room inside the device, the guys from Cupertino could have made the device work for 3 days. But they did not. The iPad Pro has the same battery life as the other smaller iPads. Not because of the bigger screen, but only because Apple changed the design to accommodate more speakers instead of a larger battery.
Built-in batteries everywhere
Another area where Apple innovates is the new Magic Trackpad 2, Magic Keyboard or the Magic Apple TV Remote. Oops! The Apple TV remote is not magic, but it shares the same feature: a built-in battery.
The only magic thing about these 3 new products is that the batteries magically disappeared. Apple believes you can forget about buying or recharging AA batteries. Charge the keyboard or trackpad for 2 hours using a Lightning cable and use it for a month. Eliminating disposable batteries is also good for the environment, and the internal structure of the device is more solid.
We can only hope they are working on a magic battery too. Having an iPhone with the same profile as the iPhone 6s or even thinner, but with a battery that can hold up for a week would be pretty awesome.