The iPhone 15 battery was suddenly "strengthened" in a way that was shocking
Apple has provided a "Charge Cycle Count" feature on the iPhone 15 series, which, according to the official introduction, is designed to allow users to intuitively understand the battery health status of the current device. The charge cycle count is recorded according to the complete charge cycle, that is, the completion of 1 0~100% charge is counted as 1 cycle, 0~50% is counted as 0.5 cycles, and so on.
In addition to helping users check the health status of the battery, Apple also considers the charging cycle count as a standard for battery life strength, such as the iPhone 15 series, where Apple first disclosed the battery life status of "800 cycles still in a healthy state".
（图源：RM Updates）
Recently, Apple officially re-measured the charging cycle count of the four models of the iPhone 15 series, adjusting the original "800 times" to "1000 times", confirming that the battery life performance of the series is better than the original estimate.
But it's worth noting that Apple has also uncovered the scars of iPhone 14 series users: the iPhone 14's battery count test is only "500 cycles", which is much lower than the iPhone 15 series. This means that the "battery question" that the iPhone 14 series was subjected to earlier is not groundless.
In recent years, the iPhone has been mired in battery-related controversy, with most users expressing dissatisfaction with Apple's reluctance to provide a larger capacity battery and faster charging. Now, Apple has responded to these controversies in this way, but at the same time, it has also embroiled itself in a larger public opinion storm.
iPhone batteries are more expensive than gold
As early as the release of the iPhone 14 series, many users shared battery-related problems on social media, especially the iPhone 14 Pro, the battery health dropped below 100% in just a few months, which is very strange.
In her research report, technology journalist Joanna Stern pointed out that most iPhone 14 Pro users have a battery health rating of 88% or less after a few months of use, which may be related to users' usage habits. In fact, Apple has also officially explained the battery loss problem of the iPhone 14 Pro, throwing the problem to the "all-weather display" function.
(Source: 9to5Mac)
"Always-on display" is a feature that debuted on the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max, and unlike Android's opt-in approach of completely turning off the screen and leaving only key information, Apple tends to show darker but full wallpaper and time information. This makes your iPhone drain faster.
As mentioned earlier, the charging cycle is one of the criteria for battery health, and the more cycles are counted, the faster the battery health will decline. The rapid decline in the iPhone 14 Pro's battery health may be related to the fact that users are charging too much. However, The Verge reporter mentioned in the research report that Apple may have adopted cheaper batteries on the iPhone 14 series, which are of poor quality, which is the culprit of the plummeting health.
(Source: iFixit)
Apple's retest of the battery health performance of the iPhone 15 series also confirms the poor battery performance of the previous iPhone. If you cycle 1 cycle a day, it will only take a year and a half to drop to Apple's nominal "unhealthy state", which is less than 80%, and if you are still a gamer and do multiple cycles every day, then you will need to replace a new battery in less than half a year.
The more critical problem is that the official battery replacement of the iPhone is a very expensive service. The price of the iPhone 14 series to choose the official battery replacement service is 748 yuan, and the price of 1g gold is only 626 yuan. No wonder people often complain that the battery of the iPhone is more expensive than gold.
（图源：Apple Newsroom）
For electronic products, battery life is also one of the key indicators that affect the user experience, not to mention that it is now an era where everyone's mobile phone is always around. And with the establishment of the concept of AI mobile phones, the tasks that mobile phones take on in our daily lives will also become more onerous, and it is incomprehensible that Apple is still cutting corners on battery life at this critical juncture.
iPhone续航早已"遥遥落后"
The reason why the iPhone was able to attract high attention from consumers in the early stage of smartphone development is because of its emphasis on the basic user experience. In recent years, the iPhone has continued to improve in performance and image, and has also developed innovations such as the "Dynamic Island", but the most basic battery and signal problems have never been solved.
At the vivo X100 series press conference, vivo brought a new "Blue Ocean Battery" and "Blue Ocean Battery Conditioning System", the former realizes 100-watt dual-core flash charging with the industry's first carbon element recombination technology, and the Blue Ocean Battery Life System provides full support in power management, battery health and a variety of fast charging protocols. Thanks to this, the vivo X100 packs a 5000mAh ultra-large capacity battery into the 202g body, and also supports 120W fast charging.
(Source: vivo)
In addition, vivo has long proposed a battery health standard of 1,000 cycles, that is, it is consistent with the iPhone 15 series, while Honor has achieved a maximum of 1500 battery cycles.
Android brands have competed with each other in terms of cost performance in the early years, and have gradually evolved into improvements in product quality and user experience, such as more comfortable body materials and more durable batteries.
In addition to vivo, Xiaomi, Huawei, and OPPO have all brought their own battery technology, with the aim of providing the most basic experience of mobile phones. On the other hand, Apple, despite the use of a lighter titanium case on the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, has not increased the battery capacity, and the fast charging speed is also the same as the previous generation.
(Source: Apple)
However, Apple has finally raised the iPhone's battery cycle to the standard of 1,000 cycles, which can be regarded as synchronizing other product lines, such as iPad and MacBook, which reached 1,000 cycles as early as 2020, and even the Apple Watch is also this standard. But the iPhone doesn't have an advanced power management system, and it's hard to say whether its battery health can really meet the official standards.
In a few months, iOS 18 will debut, which is known as the strongest iOS version in history, and if nothing else, it will bring a lot of AI-related features, and based on Apple's attitude towards privacy needs, many features with low computing power requirements may be based on local device-side computing. At that time, these "cheap batteries" purchased by Apple will become the biggest obstacle for users to access AI.
But Apple won't worry too much, after all, the official high-priced battery replacement service on sale is waiting for users.
In the battery life war, Apple can no longer "lie down to win".
Apple chose to "correct the name" of the iPhone 15 series nearly half a year after its release, on the one hand, to resolve the long-standing battery controversy, and on the other hand, to deal with the new law that the European Union will introduce in 2025. The bill proposes that all smartphones and tablets sold in the EU should be classified according to A-G, one of the criteria is battery cycles, and only more than 800 cycles can be counted to meet the level of the iPhone.
（图源：Digital Trends）
At the end of the day, Apple is only trying to ensure that the iPhone can continue to be sold unhindered in the global market, and the user experience may not be crucial. What's more, Apple hasn't released more details about this test, and it's hard to tell if the two tests are based on the same standard.
Of course, from the perspective of iPhone 15 series users, it is also a matter that their favorite device has suddenly been confirmed to be "stronger", but if you want the battery health to meet the official standard of 1,000 cycles, then you may also need to pay attention to the weekday charging mode, and the specific plan can refer to Apple's official suggestions.