iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 16 pro / 16 Plus / 16 / 15 Pro Max / 15 vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra Battery and charging test! Damn this was surprising
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00:00These are the iPhone 16s, and this should be a huge year for battery improvements.
00:04Apple said that the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus should have a big boost.
00:08Yes, that was the official term they used.
00:10But then also that the iPhone 16 Pro Max should have the best battery life ever on an iPhone.
00:14So, let's find out if they were telling the truth, and just how long we're talking about here.
00:18So, this is the $1,199 iPhone 16 Pro Max, the $999 16 Pro, the $899 16 Plus, and then the $799 iPhone 16.
00:28And we're doing something different this year.
00:30We're comparing these new phones to two iPhones from last year,
00:33the top-end iPhone 15 Pro Max and the base iPhone 15, but also Samsung,
00:37to see where Apple sits against the competition.
00:40So this is the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, which is the best phone that Samsung makes.
00:44Okay, let's unplug. The test begins now.
00:47And since I wanted to base this test off a typical day's usage,
00:50let's begin with a workout app that I've just started using.
00:52So, the big question, how has Apple achieved this supposed big boost in battery this year?
00:57Well, two things. The first is they've apparently added bigger batteries to all iPhone 16s,
01:03which sounds like the most obvious thing I've ever said,
01:06but you would be amazed how resistant phone companies are to doing this.
01:09I would guess because Apple knows how much people want bigger batteries,
01:13combined with how a bigger battery is one of the easiest ways to upgrade a phone,
01:17that they specifically save these battery improvements for years where there's not much else going on.
01:22Kind of like a Band-Aid, always ready to slap in and fix a slower year of changes.
01:27Okay, so that's an hour of workouts and...
01:30Oh, the base iPhone 16 is currently leading the pack.
01:33That seems like a strange result, but I'm not worried.
01:37I've done enough of these battery tests to know that the software of a phone
01:40will sometimes tell you it's on one percentage,
01:42even when the battery itself is actually on something quite different.
01:45The one thing that can't lie is the final result, how long till the phone completely dies.
01:49So let's jump into some work now.
01:51This is Slack. This is the messaging app that our team uses.
01:54So I have bravely asked them all to say something funny for the next hour.
01:58And I did want to add there's another reason that I think phone companies
02:01have resisted battery improvements over the years.
02:03It's that they don't just want you to buy one phone.
02:06They want you to keep upgrading phones.
02:08And so I imagine a big part of why they're so stingy with battery
02:11is it would hurt their businesses if they gave you too much.
02:14Like imagine if one year Apple doubled the battery life on their iPhones,
02:17I would bet everything I have that three to four years after that,
02:21around the time where the people who bought that phone
02:23would normally start upgrading to the next thing,
02:25significantly less would do so.
02:27Because batteries degrading over time is one of the primary incentives to upgrade.
02:31But if you start with more battery than you need,
02:33then you don't care even when it degrades.
02:35Time for Instagram.
02:37Let's do some planned, spontaneous doomscrolling.
02:40So yeah, the last time that Apple properly upgraded the batteries on their phones
02:43was between the iPhone 12s and the iPhone 13s.
02:45And even though that wasn't a massive year of other changes,
02:48battery is so important that I would say that one change alone
02:52made the iPhone 13 stand out as a good time to upgrade.
02:56My point being that even though the iPhone 16s
02:58feel like a smaller, more incremental update to the iPhone 15s,
03:01if the battery improvements are actually big,
03:04then that alone would be enough to put them on the map.
03:06So there's a lot resting on this.
03:08And so, is it working for them?
03:10Well, you can see that the normal iPhone 16's battery has fallen back in line.
03:14It's still doing really well, but just now at a sensible, believable level.
03:18Samsung is the one who's taken the lead,
03:20which, man, would it not be such a smooth move
03:22if on a table of six iPhones, the one Samsung is the one that takes the win?
03:26Oh, can you see, by the way, that the iPhone 15's screen has gone super dim?
03:30Well, that actually ties perfectly into the second reason
03:34for the apparently improved battery life this year.
03:36The first is the larger battery, which we've talked about,
03:38but the second is the new chips in these phones.
03:41See, the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus are running Apple's new A18 chipset,
03:45and the 16 Pro and Pro Max are running the new A18 Pro.
03:48I won't get too technical here,
03:49but basically these chips are designed using a new process
03:52that manages to get the transistors closer together.
03:55The transistors are kind of like the building blocks of the chip,
03:58so if they're packed in even closer together,
04:00it reduces the communication distance,
04:02making them faster, making them more energy efficient,
04:05which is the thing that's good for battery, but also less hot.
04:08And that is a key part of why the iPhone 15's display is dimmed
04:11and the new phones haven't yet.
04:14And this improvement to the chipset should actually be
04:16a particularly big jump for the base iPhone 16 and 16 Plus
04:19because those phones have actually jumped forward two generations.
04:23Before, Apple would only let the Pro phones have the latest tech,
04:26and so the normal iPhone 15 is using a chip from two years ago,
04:29even though it's last year's phone.
04:31But this year it's simple.
04:33Every new iPhone gets a new A18 generation of chips.
04:36I guess because all iPhones need to run Apple Intelligence,
04:39and Apple Intelligence requires this new hardware.
04:42That said, after four hours, now that we're jumping into YouTube,
04:45is it looking like as big of a claim as Apple was making it seem?
04:49Well, so far, the new iPhones are outpacing their last generation counterparts.
04:53The iPhone 16 is doing better than the iPhone 15,
04:56and the iPhone 16 Pro Max is doing better than the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
05:00But they're also, they're not exactly crushing them.
05:03It's really Samsung who seems to be running away with this test.
05:06Now, bear in mind this Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra,
05:09I've never actually tested in one of these battery videos before,
05:12but I have used it as my main phone for a while,
05:15and I have been blown away by battery life.
05:17So if Samsung wins this, it doesn't mean that the new iPhones have poor battery,
05:21but it also wouldn't reflect great on Apple,
05:23since battery is meant to be one of the big new things here.
05:26Also, just so you know, we've taken a lot of precautions
05:29to make this test as fair as possible.
05:31All phones are on their latest non-beta updates,
05:33so that means every iPhone is on iOS 18 and the Samsung is on Android 14.
05:37We've bought new versions of each phone,
05:39so nothing here has had more than five charging cycles,
05:42and their battery is 100% healthy.
05:44The room temperature is controlled at 18 degrees Celsius,
05:47because that's been the average of indoor and outdoor temps for us.
05:51They're all on light mode, their settings are calibrated,
05:53their screen brightness is matched.
05:54They will look very slightly different to you,
05:56because of natural variances in panels and also the viewing angle from the camera,
06:00but they are matched.
06:02My point being that there are things that you can't factor in with a test like this.
06:05Like, no phone has a SIM card in,
06:07because that would introduce a whole new tier of variables.
06:10But at the same time, this should give you
06:12as accurate a representation as you can get
06:14of how all of these phones perform relative to each other.
06:17We're on the cameras now, by the way,
06:19and this is probably the most demanding thing
06:21that any normal person does on a day-to-day basis,
06:23because recording 4K video pushes just about every single component
06:27in your phone to the max all at once.
06:30So this is where you expect overheating and rapid battery drain.
06:34But oh boy, I'm actually particularly impressed with this Samsung,
06:37and it shows that serious work has been done somewhere here.
06:41The Galaxy S24 Ultra has a 5,000 mAh battery,
06:45and you might know that Samsung's had 5,000 mAh batteries
06:48for ages on their flagship phones,
06:50but they never used to be this good.
06:52There was a time not that long ago
06:54where iPhones that had less than 4,000 mAh
06:57were destroying Samsungs that had 5,000.
07:00The iPhones were just getting far more juice per mAh,
07:03but that looks like it's flipped now.
07:06Apple doesn't disclose precise mAh measurements,
07:08but the estimate for the battery size on this 16 Pro Max
07:11is around 4,700,
07:13which, if true, means that this phone
07:15has 95% of the capacity of the Samsung,
07:18but it seems like it's lasting less than 95% as long.
07:21So its juice per mAh,
07:24if that term isn't taken, I'm coining it,
07:26is looking lower for the first time ever.
07:29Side note, isn't it actually kind of mesmerizing
07:31watching ChatGPT write out
07:33seven 20,000-word essays at the same time?
07:35What a wild time to be alive.
07:37Now, as for why this Samsung is doing so good,
07:39I've been thinking about this.
07:41I thought it could be a Samsung-specific thing,
07:43but that wouldn't be my first guess,
07:45as I've noticed Android flagships in general
07:47lasting a lot longer this year.
07:49It could be related to the new Snapdragon chip
07:51that most top-end Androids are being powered by,
07:53and maybe that's a factor,
07:55but that can't be the main thing,
07:57because my new Google Pixels battery
07:59is also really surprisingly good,
08:01and that doesn't use a Snapdragon.
08:03Then I realized the common thread.
08:05It's Android 14.
08:07Every phone I've tested that has surprised me
08:09with how good the battery is has been running Android 14,
08:11which has fixed basically a loophole
08:13that allows apps to consistently run
08:15in the background if they decide they want to.
08:17And based on how much of an improvement
08:19this software seems to have made,
08:21that loophole might well have been
08:23the thorn in Android's side
08:25that's now been removed,
08:27while it changes the entire landscape.
08:29So the iPhone 15 is down and out
08:31after 7 hours and 45 minutes,
08:33just before we're about to enter
08:35some heavier gaming.
08:37And oh, look, the iPhone 16 has just started dimming too.
08:39It's good to see that the Pro iPhones
08:41and the Samsung are not dimming,
08:43because, you know, you would expect that Pro phones
08:45are designed to be able to take more stress.
08:47Oh no, I'm wrong.
08:49The Pro has just started dimming now too.
08:51iPhones sometimes do this just before they die,
08:53but the fact that I can't turn the brightness back up
08:55does mean that this is a thermal issue.
08:57Well, that's disappointing.
08:59And now both phones are out
09:01in the exact same minute.
09:03But from this point,
09:05now that it's just the big boys left,
09:07let's just get to it.
09:09Let's fast forward this test all the way to the finish now.
09:11It's brutal, seemingly unending finish
09:13right into the late evening,
09:15which is when the editing starts.
09:17And I'm going to do something a little extra this time around.
09:19As soon as we've gone through the battery drain results,
09:21I'm also going to,
09:23while the phones are here,
09:25quickly stick them on charge,
09:27so we can see how fast they go the other way.
09:29So, as you've seen, in 7th place was the iPhone 15
09:31with 7 hours and 45.
09:33Not an amazing result,
09:35but still, I would say sufficient battery
09:37for most medium users.
09:39Then there was a pretty large gap before the 16 died,
09:41which is good.
09:43Based on the intensity of this test,
09:458 hours 19 is a sign that I still wouldn't recommend the 16
09:47to the absolute heaviest users,
09:49but you've got more than enough
09:51And then completely neck and neck
09:53with the 16 is the 16 Pro.
09:55And I'm kind of both glad
09:57that Apple has managed to make a compact phone
09:59with actually great battery life now,
10:01while also feeling a little disappointed
10:03that they didn't manage to make the Pro last
10:05well, even a minute longer
10:07than the base iPhone.
10:09Isn't battery life like the single feature that power users
10:11are going to need more of than basic users?
10:13And then, another large gap later,
10:15the iPhone 16 Plus called it
10:17at 8 hours and 45 minutes.
10:19This is great battery. There is no doubt about it.
10:21But,
10:23it's also not as great as I expected.
10:25I actually assumed that this Plus would
10:27outlast the base 16 by at least
10:29an hour. And so, the fact that its lead
10:31has ended up as just 26 minutes
10:33means battery isn't really
10:35a massive factor in going for the Plus
10:37this generation. The iPhone 15
10:39Pro Max has top-end battery life.
10:41This one I expected to last a long time
10:43and it absolutely did with
10:459 hours and 35, which I think
10:47is down to the extra efficiencies from the
10:49ProMotion display that can both scale
10:51up the refresh rate when you want things super smooth
10:53but also scale down to really
10:55low refresh rates when your apps just don't
10:57need it. So, in apps where it can scale
10:59back, it will save you a lot of battery.
11:01In second place then, the iPhone
11:0316 Pro Max does indeed
11:05improve upon the 15 Pro Max's already
11:07stellar battery life with
11:0911 hours and 22 minutes.
11:11Which, fair play. That's pretty amazing.
11:13But,
11:15not amazing enough.
11:17The Samsung actually did just
11:19go and do it. It beat every iPhone.
11:21And while this isn't the longest
11:23battery life reading I've ever recorded,
11:25it's worth bearing in mind that every time we do this test
11:27you shouldn't expect the same results
11:29and you can't compare between them because
11:31I'm always updating the app list. And so,
11:33if we look at how well Samsung has performed
11:35compared to the phones in this test,
11:37then it's far enough ahead of
11:39supposedly the best iPhone battery life ever
11:41that I think this is the best
11:43battery on any phone that has
11:45been put through our tests. And now that all the phones
11:47are fully drained, this is our perfect
11:49opportunity to see how fast they can all charge.
11:51So, I've got each phone connected to the exact
11:53same 65W plug that I got off Amazon.
11:55Which, since these companies don't send you
11:57their recommended charges anymore, I feel like
11:59is the best plug that most people
12:01might realistically have lying around.
12:03And while that happens, I want to show you something pretty
12:05cool that you can do thanks to the Opera browser,
12:07this vid's sponsor. I am consistently
12:09surprised at how intelligent the baked-in
12:11Aria AI actually is. Like, check this out.
12:13Command plus slash to bring it up
12:15on top of whatever you're doing. What's the battery
12:17life difference between an iPhone
12:1915 Pro and an iPhone 15 Pro Max?
12:21I mean, the thing literally draws a table
12:23to present the information in a clearer way.
12:25That's actually crazy. But it gets better
12:27because Aria now has both image recognition
12:29and image generation. So, like,
12:31I mean, let's try this. Make me a wallpaper
12:33for my phone that's pretty, but also
12:35has a lot of black in it to save battery
12:37that I can download and apply.
12:39Okay, that's cool. It's by far
12:41the best browser for organisation, thanks to
12:43Tab Islands, but also functionality,
12:45thanks to being able to have your tabs all the way across
12:47the top, and then your apps all the way down the side.
12:49Link below to download the Opera browser
12:51for free. So, after about 10 minutes of charging,
12:53these are the percentages.
12:5522%, 22%,
12:5722%, 21%.
12:59Whoa, so basically
13:01every iPhone 16 has the same charging speed.
13:03We've got 19%
13:05on the 15 Pro Max, and then 22% again.
13:07So the Pro Max iPhone last year
13:09was a tiny bit slower.
13:1117. Bear in mind, this phone can
13:13charge a little faster if you specifically use
13:15Samsung's own 45 watt power
13:17brick and cable, but that's not cheap.
13:19So, if you're using something more generic,
13:21then it seems like iPhone is likely to
13:23charge faster. Catch you in the next one.