iPhone 16e's Battery Capacity Revealed in Real-World Battery Life Test

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In its announcement video for the iPhone 16e, Apple said the device features a new internal design that allowed for a larger battery.

iPhone 16e Battery
Apple does not publicly advertise mAh battery capacities for iPhones. In his iPhone 16e review video today, however, Dave Lee of the YouTube channel Dave2D said the device is equipped with a 3,961 mAh battery. That is more than a 10% increase in battery capacity compared to the regular iPhone 16 model's 3,561 mAh battery, provided that the iPhone 16e's battery voltage remains the typical 3.85V.

  • iPhone 16 Pro Max: 4,685 mAh
  • iPhone 16 Pro: 3,582 mAh
  • iPhone 16 Plus: 4,674 mAh
  • iPhone 16: 3,561 mAh
  • iPhone 16e: 3,961 mAh

Update: A teardown has revealed that the iPhone 16e has a 4,005 mAh battery capacity instead.

Apple says the iPhone 16e offers the longest battery life of any 6.1-inch iPhone ever, in part due to Apple's new power-efficient C1 modem.

How is the iPhone 16e's real-world battery life?

Lee evaluated the iPhone 16e's battery life with a test that continuously loads the Reddit website over Wi-Fi, and he found that the device achieved 12 hours and 54 minutes of battery life for this purpose. In the same test, the regular iPhone 16 lasted 11 hours and 17 minutes, so the iPhone 16e was the clear winner in this particular test.

iPhone 16e Battery Life Dave2DiPhone 16e battery life test by Dave2D

Tom's Guide also tested the iPhone 16e's battery life in a different way, and the device achieved similar results as the regular iPhone 16:

In running Tom's Guide's battery benchmark test, the iPhone 16e puts up an average time of 12 hours and 41 minutes. That's only a couple of minutes shorter than the iPhone 16's average of 12 hours and 43 minutes. However, the best times recorded on both phones are 12 hours and 49 minutes for the iPhone 16e, and 13 hours and 19 minutes with the iPhone 16.

The website said its test "runs a script that simulates normal web surfing over cellular until the battery's depleted."

More on the iPhone 16e's battery life from CNET's Patrick Holland:

I've had the 16E for six days and only had to charge it three times. I used a 30-watt wall charger, and the 16E went from empty to 59% in 30 minutes. And I've been using the phone heavily, testing the cameras, running Apple Intelligence tools and playing graphics intensive games.

The iPhone 16E can definitely make it through a day on a single charge and, depending on how you use it, it'll likely make it through a day and a half before needing to be plugged in.

In CNET's video streaming battery test with the battery charged to 100%, the iPhone 16E didn't drop a single percent after an hour. Compare that to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15, each of which dropped to 97% after an hour in the same test. I have more battery tests to run, but so far the iPhone 16E has a great battery life.

Here is Lee's review:


Apple is currently accepting iPhone 16e pre-orders, and the device launches on Friday. Read our iPhone 16e review roundup to learn more.

Related Roundup: iPhone 16e
Buyer's Guide: iPhone 16e (Buy Now)

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Top Rated Comments

JPack Avatar
JPack
4 weeks ago
Apple does publish battery capacity specs in their compliance docs.

Apple marketing materials make it sound like the C1 is doing the heavy lifting. According to Apple specs, the battery capacity was increased by 12% (Wh rating) compared to iPhone 16.

For every 1% increase, the video streaming battery life tends to increase by 1.3% to 1.4%. This is similar to what we saw with iPhone 15 to iPhone 16. C1 isn't magic. Apple just added more battery to the 16e because it doesn't have a second rear camera.



https://chemtrec.blob.core.windows.net/criterion/APIS_BPIS_Current.pdf

https://www.apple.com/legal/more-resources/gtc.html

Attachment Image
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
I7guy Avatar
I7guy
4 weeks ago
Better battery life is always "better". Waiting for Friday to see the real reviews.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nozuka Avatar
Nozuka
4 weeks ago
„Lee evaluated the iPhone 16e's battery life with a test that continuously loads the Reddit website over Wi-Fi“

Because who would want to test the efficiency of the c1 chip..
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
masotime Avatar
masotime
4 weeks ago

Yes, in Wh. The article correctly states that "Apple does not publicly advertise mAh battery capacities for iPhones."
Wh is actually a proper measure of energy though. Ah / mAh is a measure of charge, and depends on the battery voltage to determine the actual energy stored.

I do wish the industry in general would move away from mAh as a "measure" of energy capacity and stick with proper units of energy as defined by Physics.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rastapopoulos Avatar
Rastapopoulos
4 weeks ago
It’s almost hidden in the article, but if the runtime on cellular is a bit worse with a battery that is that much bigger, that means the C1 is actually LESS efficient than what’s in the normal 16.

To be honest, I was already very sceptical due to the specific language used by Apple when they announced it.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JPack Avatar
JPack
4 weeks ago

Yes, in Wh. The article correctly states that "Apple does not publicly advertise mAh battery capacities for iPhones."
Sure, but that’s a given since mAh isn’t a useful number and doesn’t tell you total energy. Only Wh does. That’s why Apple advertises Wh for MacBook for example.

Even though you have mAh number, you cannot trust them since you don’t know voltage.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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