A year after its release, the standard iPhone 17 remains part of Apple's current lineup alongside the newer iPhone 18 Pro, and many buyers choose it specifically for its battery life. But independent lab tests have found that Apple's official battery figures do not always match real-world performance, according to technology outlet BGR.
Apple states that the iPhone 17 can play up to 30 hours of locally stored video and 27 hours of streamed video. That is well above the iPhone 16, rated at 22 and 18 hours respectively, and even above the iPhone 16 Pro, which was the flagship at the time and is rated at 27 and 22 hours. This year's top-end models, the iPhone 17 Pro Max and iPhone 18 Pro Max, are rated at up to 39 and 45 hours of video respectively.
Stress test results
Testers at Tom's Guide set screen brightness to 150 nits and had the phone browse the internet over 5G continuously until the battery died. Tom's Guide's ranking of top battery-life smartphones only includes phones that last at least 11.5 hours. The iPhone 17 lasted 12 hours and 47 minutes, slightly ahead of the iPhone 16 at 12 hours 43 minutes and the iPhone 17e at 12 hours 35 minutes, but well behind the iPhone 17 Pro at 15 hours 32 minutes.
Results for web browsing over Wi-Fi varied between labs. Notebookcheck recorded 20.1 hours of use for the iPhone 17 compared with 18.3 hours for last year's model. PhoneArena found the opposite: the iPhone 17 lasted 16 hours and 47 minutes, a minute less than its predecessor.
iPhone 16 outperforms in gaming tests
The most notable results came from PhoneArena's endurance tests for gaming and streaming, in which the base iPhone 16 unexpectedly outlasted the newer iPhone 17. In video playback, the iPhone 17 managed 7 hours 19 minutes against 7 hours 30 minutes for the iPhone 16. In 3D gaming, the iPhone 17 lasted 9 hours 12 minutes, 40 minutes less than the iPhone 16. On PhoneArena's overall Battery Score, the iPhone 17 scored 6 hours 13 minutes compared with 6 hours 21 minutes for the older model.
The picture changed again under maximum hardware load. In a demanding PUBG test run at ultra graphics settings and full screen brightness, the iPhone 17 lasted 4.4 hours, compared with 3.6 hours for the iPhone 16.
A similar pattern emerged in looped offline video playback tests with the phone in airplane mode. Notebookcheck, testing at 150 cd/m², recorded 29.4 hours for the iPhone 17 against 23.1 hours for the iPhone 16. ExpertReviews, testing at 170 cd/m² using the VLC player, recorded 29.2 hours against 25.8 hours for the predecessor. These results came closest to matching Apple's official battery claims.
iPhone 18 Pro battery capacity
Apple has separately disclosed the battery capacities of the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, at 4,056 mAh and 5,391 mAh respectively. That is 1.7% more than the iPhone 17 Pro's 3,988 mAh, and 11.7% more than the iPhone 17 Pro Max's 4,823 mAh. Apple says the iPhone 18 Pro holds a charge for as long as the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and that the iPhone 18 Pro Max can play video for up to 45 hours.
