iPhoneSE 2020 - Battery Life

Recently took delivery of a new iPhone SE 2020 - 256Gb - I have been using 2 x iPhone SEs since 2016 and had not bought a phone since.

The battery life is absolutely appalling .. so bad that I am likely to return the phone and seek a complete refund.

The battery percentage drops constantly during the day with very little use - I have slimmed down as much as I can all the power saving areas and use the phone only for email, internet surfing and text messages.. still the battery life is very weak.

The thing that has making me pretty much consider returning it and seeking a complete refund worst thing is that I charged it last night fully to 100% around 1.00am and left it on my desk. This morning at 9.00am it is down to 62%..

All the reviews about the phone rave about its performance but flag as defect its battery life... so I was forewarned but this bad makes it unusable as a phone personally speaking

Any other experiences or comments?

iPhone SE, iOS 13

Posted on May 9, 2020 1:03 AM

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25 replies

Jul 13, 2020 9:16 AM in response to musicspirit

Mine also draining when not in use ,im depress ,waist of money ,

Jul 23, 2020 8:38 PM in response to Intothevalleyrode1

Seriously. It seems they have no concern over the quality of their products anymore. It's really a shame.

Jul 25, 2020 3:53 AM in response to AQQuintero

I just sold mine on eBay

Aug 1, 2020 1:37 PM in response to musicspirit

I have the same problem as we speak. Did you return your phone?

Aug 1, 2020 4:33 PM in response to fastchipwithbadbattery

Not yet but I’m considering it.

May 19, 2020 10:19 PM in response to musicspirit

I purchased the iphone SE 2020 to replace my wife's Iphone8. When she started using the SE, the battery would rapidly decrease. On voice calls the drain would be 1% every 2 minutes. Video/Facetime use caused rapid battery drain and heat. While on the phone with Apple, the drain continued and they had no answer for the issue. I returned the phone and was shocked to discover there is only a 14 day return window for it. The SE was only marginally faster than the 8, so there must be a "bug" in these phones. My wife has been with Apple since the 4 and this is the first issue that Apple could not resolve. I ordered the phone April 21st and it did not arrive until the second week of May. It came from China, through US Customs to Kentucky and then to us. We will be glad when the Apple stores near us open again. Will consider purchasing the SE once these issues have been resolved.

May 20, 2020 5:51 AM in response to Deutscherbob

Haven’t been able to compare my gf’s old SE to mine yet, but still noticing rapid drains. Was hoping it would maybe “settle” in (no idea why) after a while, but nothing like that. For example: started the day with 97 % battery this morning at 7.30 am. 30 minute Safari Bluetooth audio stream in the train (no video) this morning and otherwise light usage and i’m down to 58% at 2.30pm.

I don’t see how Apple expects this phone to hit 13h screen time of video streaming if this kind of light app usage takes 40% battery in 90 minutes screen time. It just doesn’t add up. I want to like this phone, but after waiting years for it to release even I am considering returning it. Because I still remember battery life on my 3y old Android phone recently and even my old SE from years ago being better than this brand new one.

Screenshots provided below. Will try to test old SE vs this one this weekend.

musicspirit Author

Level 3

579 points

Aug 1, 2020 2:18 PM in response to fastchipwithbadbattery

Thanks to all who have replied to this thread - I have held onto my iPhone SE2020 - having spent all the time switching over my content from the old phone, and backing up to iCloud etc it is just too much hassle to send it back. This table from Tom's Guide ( google iPhone SE 2020 battery life) explains it all - the size of the battery is inadequate completely for the size of the phone combined with the amount of processing power that Apple have packed into it. That is the simple reason that it cannot compete with bigger heavier more expensive Apple iPhones - or slower less powerful older ones.

The behaviour that the phone seems to exhibit for everyone, judging by threads etc.. is that it takes a while to settle into a routine of not losing charge catastrophically. I think Apple have been caught between a rock and a hard place... in the sense that they did their best to make a budget high powered phone which would appeal to those of us who loved the old iPhone SE... and we were seduced! But there needs to be some official explanation of how they could have brought out such an imbalanced phone.

It is simply not OK to bring out a new phone that has this kind of problem - even when it has settled down, the short time between charges, ie that it wont last more than a day even on minimal usage - is still a major flaw in the phone. And spoils it as a useful reliable tool compared with previous great iPhones - and more expensive ones such as the iPhone 11.

One hopes that the sophistication of iOS updates might improve things - but somehow I think those of us who bought this phone are stuck with it...

And I am speaking as someone who hardly ever watcheds Youtube or videos on my phone, uses it mainly to check email while away from my desktop, read text messages, uses the camera minimally most of the time, make minimal calls, look up infor on google, read the newspaer online and check news... -

My Screentime average is never more than 3-4 hours a day that is mostly spent reading ( mail, safari, texts, very few phone calls) - and it is still down to 20% by the early evening.. this is not a phone that you could rely on if you were working full time in business ( I am self employed and my job does not involve using my phone much).

Aug 4, 2020 8:18 AM in response to HoggBear

As I stated in my original post, I returned my SE within 2 days due to inadequate battery life. Apple support is excellent, but not when I tried to resolve this issue. I was on line for over 45 minutes, losing 1% of battery power for every 2 minutes on a normal phone call. I was transferred several times and ended up speaking with a supervisor who wanted me to drive 20 miles to the Micro Center computer store(since all local apple stores were closed) to have them analyze the problem. I could tell from their response that they had no clue how to resolve the issue. Worst case of Apple support we have ever had with normally excellent service from Apple. If you want the SE, buy a battery case, because you will need it. We are waiting for the iPhone 12 and hope Apple doesn't have major issues with it. All service providers have suffered personnel issues since Covid-19, but this is a hardware/software issue that should have stopped Apple from releasing this phone. Shame on Apple management for the 'dieselgate (VW)" issue. When we purchased phones at the Apple store, we had a 30 day return window. This Apple online purchase only had a 14 day return window. That indicates they knew of an issue before releasing the phone. We will stay with Apple, but this has given them a back eye!

Jul 20, 2020 5:53 AM in response to musicspirit

I noticed there is no reply for Apple on this issue.

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iPhoneSE 2020 - Battery Life