Why your iPhone’s battery health doesn’t really mean much
Did you buy a new iPhone? Of course, you hope to keep the battery condition at 100 percent for as long as possible. What many people do not know is that they actually have little influence on this. Why? We’ll tell you.
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Every time you charge your iPhone, the battery deteriorates
Batteries are actually just like people: one iPhone battery is not the other. The YouTube channel Payette Forward delved deep into the battery data of an iPhone XS and iPhone 12 Pro a while ago, showing battery conditions of 83 percent and 100 percent, respectively. The iPhone XS is a lot older than the 12 Pro, so the percentages seem reasonable at first glance.
You probably already feel it coming: they are not correct. An iPhone battery deteriorates after each charging cycle. One cycle is a one-time charge from 0 to 100 percent. Do you already hang your iPhone on the charger when it still has 20 percent battery charge left? Then it takes a little longer than one charge before your battery undergoes a full cycle.
The iPhone 12 Pro we see in the video has already been fully charged 97 times. The device nevertheless has a battery condition of 100 percent, but that is scientifically proven to be impossible. Technically, the health of a battery is no longer 100 percent after one cycle. Of course, the percentage drops very little per cycle, but every little bit ‘helps’ – for lack of a better word.
No battery is the same
Okay, so much for the obvious part of this article. From the small-scale research of Payette Forward turns out that every iPhone battery differs in size. These differences are sometimes bigger than you might think.
It appears that the iPhone 12 Pro in the video has a battery capacity of 2942 mAh. That is more than 100 mAh more than the capacity stated by Apple of 2815 mAh. This iPhone 12 Pro thus secretly has a battery health of 104 percent.
That’s why some iPhones are stuck at 100 percent for a year, while others have dropped to 98 percent after a few months. The stated 100 percent is never exactly 100 percent in reality. And where some iPhones have batteries with more capacity than stated, there are also iPhones with less. It’s a matter of luck.
What you can do yourself
You have no influence on the size of a battery, but you do have some influence on the lifespan. Your charging behavior plays a role. Apple itself has some tips for this. For example, it is wise to never let your iPhone completely drain. And while you’re at it: it’s smarter that you no longer fully charge the battery to 100 percent. It is also wise not to let your iPhone get too hot or too cold. For example, remove your case while charging so that the heat can spread well.
Do you prefer to charge your iPhone at night? That should no longer be a problem thanks to Apple’s ‘optimized charging’ feature. The feature adapts to your sleep rhythm and automatically pauses the energy supply at night, before the battery reaches 100 percent. Your iPhone then resumes charging just before you wake up from dreamland. In this way you simply have a full battery in the morning, without your battery deteriorating.
Has the battery condition of your iPhone already deteriorated considerably and do you want to extend the battery life a bit? Watch our video below, in which we give you tips to improve the battery life of your iPhone.
Also read: iPhone battery tips: 10 tips to extend battery life
How high is the battery condition of your iPhone? Be sure to let us know in the comments. In addition, download our free iPhoned app and sign up for our newsletter. That way you don’t miss anything!
