Back in 2017, Apple had an iPhone battery problem. After admitting that it was throttling performance on some older iPhone models to prevent unexpected shutdowns due to batteries that couldn’t deliver peak current demands, Apple launched a year-long battery replacement program and offered an easy way to monitor iPhone battery health. If you haven’t checked it in a while, you might want to—especially if you have one of Apple’s newest high-end phones.
After several iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max owners took to X (formerly Twitter) to report that their battery health had dwindled to concerning lows after less than a year of use, I checked my own iPhone 14 Pro Max and, sure enough, it’s already down to 92 percent. I bought the phone on September 16, 2022, so it’s been about 11 months, or a decline of 1 percent every 5 or so weeks. That seems like a lot.
Apple claims a normal battery “is designed to retain up to 80% of its original capacity at 500 complete charge cycles when operating under normal conditions,” which works out to about two years. But assuming batteries degrade faster as they age, it’s hard to believe that my iPhone 14 Pro will still have 80 percent of its original capacity this time next year.
I’ll admit I use my phone a lot (it’s my job after all), but a battery health degradation of nearly 10 percent after less than a year seems excessive. For example, my son has an iPhone 13 that he’s been using for about six months and its battery health is still at 100 percent.
It’s definitely having an effect on my daily usage. Over the past few months, I’ve noticed that I need to charge my phone earlier than I did when I first got it. It’s not terrible and I can usually get through a full day, but it’s definitely a more noticeable decline than in previous years. I’ll be buying an iPhone 15 Pro Max next month, but if I wasn’t, I’d be a little concerned about the future of my phone’s battery life.
So before you decide to hold onto your iPhone 14 Pro for another year (a lot of Apple fans are planning to skip the iPhone 15 generation and wait for the iPhone 16), you might want to head over to the Battery tab in Settings and check Battery Health. Because your iPhone might not be as healthy as your think.
Author: Michael Simon, Executive Editor
Michael Simon has been covering Apple since the iPod was the iWalk. His obsession with technology goes back to his first PC—the IBM Thinkpad with the lift-up keyboard for swapping out the drive. He's still waiting for that to come back in style tbh.