When Apple (AAPL) finally took the wraps off three of its most highly anticipated products in years — the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus and Apple Watch — the company kept relatively quiet about an issue that has dogged it through generations of mobile devices: battery life.
The company did release iPhone battery life, but for most things people use smartphones for these days (Wi-Fi or LTE browsing, for example) improvements over last year were modest.
As for Apple Watch battery life, it wasn’t mentioned at all. However, passing reference was made to nightly recharging, supporting rumors that the smartwatch battery lasts just one day.
Why does Apple seem to have a problem with batteries?
If there’s one thing iPhone users have been clamoring for just as much as a bigger display, it’s longer battery life. Take this WalletHero survey conducted just before the iPhone 6 release. Among the 1,500 respondents, 97% put longer iPhone battery life at the top of their wish list.
Battery Life is a Challenge For All Mobile Devices
The reality is that everyone has a problem with batteries.
Inside a typical smartphone case, you’ll find a variety of motion sensors, a big and bright color display (often at HD resolution), speakers, a camera, a GPS, a CPU powerful enough to play near-console-quality games, and a bunch of radios for connectivity: LTE, Bluetooth, NFC and Wi-Fi.
All of these use power, but the source of power is whatever space remains within that case to squeeze in a battery. There are no magic bullets — battery advances have slowed, and alternatives like solar aren’t there yet — so every smartphone manufacturer has to make tradeoffs.
Some are turning to low-power modes to conserve battery life when not in use. For example Sony’s (SNE) new Xperia Z2 has a “Stamina” mode that restricts hardware performance in order to get the most out of its battery. Google (GOOG) made power management a priority in Android L, the latest version of its mobile operating system.
In the case of a smartwatch, the situation is even worse. With CPUs capable of running apps, backlit color displays and Bluetooth radios crammed into a case that has to be tiny enough to fit on a wrist, there is little space available for a battery.
But Apple’s Design Sacrifices iPhone Battery Life
One of Apple’s design mantras seems to be “thin is in.” Virtually everything it sells is driven by this golden rule: iMac desktop PCs, the MacBook Air, iPad Air and the iPhone. Releasing an iPhone 6 the same thickness as the previous generation model was likely unthinkable to Apple. Both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus are thinner than last year’s iPhone 5s, despite the overall size increase of the devices.
The result? Forbes’ Mark Rogowsky says “in picking form over function, Apple gave the iPhone 6 a lousy battery.”
Going thin means less physical room for a battery. Even though the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus got significantly bigger, going thinner means the gain in space for the battery compared to the iPhone 5s was reduced. Add in the bigger displays (one of the biggest consumers of battery power) and it shouldn’t be a big surprise the new iPhone battery life isn’t better than it is.
For point of comparison, the Samsung (SSNLF) Galaxy S5 has the room for a 2800mAh battery while the new iPhone 6 reportedly has a 1,810mAh pack (Apple has avoided publishing the capacity, choosing instead to provide usage stats).
The iOS7 Effect on iPhone Battery Life
A whole new round of complaints about iPhone battery life was touched off by the release of iOS 7. Apple added features like background app refreshing, automatic updates and more open access to Location Services.
Left at their default settings, all of these combined to wallop battery life for many iPhone owners.
While it’s not a perfect solution, some of the complaining about iPhone battery life would go away if users could swap out the battery for a freshly charged backup. You can do this with the Galaxy S5, the iPhone’s closest competitor. However, Apple is sticking with a sealed battery that can’t be swapped (or replaced) by the user.
Apple Watch Battery Life is Typical of Smartwatch Competitors
If Apple Watch battery life does turn out to be a single day when it arrives in 2015, it will be in good company. Few competitors among the current smartwatch generation offer more. The notable exception is the Pebble, and it manages to go nearly a week on a charge not because of advanced new battery technology but because Pebble ditched the color LCD display used by everyone else in favor of a power-sipping black and white e-paper display similar to that used by Amazon’s (AMZN) Kindle e-readers.
More important at this stage is the ease of recharging, and the Apple Watch is about as good as it gets with its magnetic induction charger.
People Simply Expect More From Apple
Another issue — and one that competitors like Samsung would love to have — is that consumers and analysts simply expect more from Apple. There’s an assumption that the company that broke open the tablet and smartphone markets and built a reputation for innovative design would be capable of engineering a fix.
You can bet Apple is working at it, but they haven’t found the elusive solution yet. The company has made the A8 processor powering the new iPhone 6 more power efficient (otherwise iPhone battery life with those bigger displays would be even worse this round), but for most things people care about, there were no big gains this year.
At the end of the day, people may complain about iPhone battery life, but that doesn’t seem to hurt sales. Despite the unanswered pleas for a big boost in battery life to accompany the bigger iPhone 6, Apple shattered pre-order records for its latest smartphones and chances are that any Apple Watch battery life disappointment will also be largely overlooked by gadget-obsessed buyers.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
