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Battery capacity

Over the past 3 weeks my battery capacity has drained by 1% each week to which I have screenshotted as proof and reference, now my guess is that apple sent one of their background updates to drain the battery quicker in light of the new iPhone launch in September! I have the iPhone 12 which is in grade A condition and I charge it and maintain it as it should be.

obviously it’s now out of warranty but I’m not planning on upgrading as I don’t need to but am worried that with the battery draining at such a high rate it will soon be close to service mode and I’m not prepared to pay what apple charge for a battery.

Any advice or suggestions please?

TIA

iPhone 12, iOS 15

Posted on Aug 28, 2022 10:49 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Aug 28, 2022 11:18 AM

As @lobsterghost1 suggested, batteries are charged by a chemical reaction. It is not uncommon for these to degrade slower or faster than someone else's device will. Charging habits, daily usage, and background processes vary from user to user.


There are a number of factors that go into battery usage. Here are a few articles that provide tips as well as information on how to find out what could be causing your battery to drain quickly.


Follow the instructions in this Apple Support Article:

-> iPhone Battery and Performance - Apple Support

-> Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple

Pay attention to "View Battery Usage Information" to help find out how you can maximize your battery life.








6 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Aug 28, 2022 11:18 AM in response to MrP26-3

As @lobsterghost1 suggested, batteries are charged by a chemical reaction. It is not uncommon for these to degrade slower or faster than someone else's device will. Charging habits, daily usage, and background processes vary from user to user.


There are a number of factors that go into battery usage. Here are a few articles that provide tips as well as information on how to find out what could be causing your battery to drain quickly.


Follow the instructions in this Apple Support Article:

-> iPhone Battery and Performance - Apple Support

-> Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple

Pay attention to "View Battery Usage Information" to help find out how you can maximize your battery life.








Aug 28, 2022 11:56 AM in response to MrP26-3

Coming back to your original issue, how long has it been since the phone was new? If it’s been more than 8 months since the phone left Apple’s inventory then 92% is about the right place. If it’s much more than 8 months your battery is performing exceptionally well.


Batteries are consumables; they lose a little capacity every time they are discharged, then recharged. On average this works out to about a 1% loss for every 25 “full charge cycles”. As one example, if you charge the phone overnight, every night (and that is what you should do; it is a best practice), it starts the day at 100%. If it drops to 20% by the end of the day before you charge it again overnight that counts as 0.8 full charge cycles (20% to 100%), or about 24 full charge cycles per month of use. For this example your battery capacity will lose about 1% per month. Of course, if the end-of-day level is higher than 20% the capacity loss will be a little less, and if it is lower than 20%, or you charge it during the day, the capacity loss will be higher.


Once the capacity drops below 80%, or if there is a message in Battery Health that the battery is not meeting peak performance expectations, it’s time to change the battery→iPhone Battery Replacement - Official Apple Support


The absolute best way to get maximum use on a charge, as well as slow the decline of battery capacity long term is to enable Optimized Battery Charging (Settings/Battery/Battery Health) and charge the device overnight, every night. The battery will fast charge to 80%, then pause. During the nighttime pause the phone will use mains power instead of battery power, allowing the battery to “rest”, and thus reducing the need to charge the battery quite as often. The phone will resume charging to reach 100% when you are ready to use your phone; it will “learn” your usage pattern. If you enable iCloud Backup (Settings/[your name]/iCloud - iCloud Backup) the phone will back up overnight also, assuring that you can never lose more than the current day’s updates. Here's more information→About Optimized Battery Charging on your iPhone - Apple Support


The other thing to keep in mind that a battery is a chemical device, and chemistry is generally pretty variable and uncertain, as well as being analog, not digital. Apple specs the battery capacity to remain above 80% for 500 full charge cycles, but that is a minimum requirement; there is no published maximum expected capacity. So sometimes batteries will perform much better than that minimum specification, and sometimes the change in maximum capacity won't be linear. 

Aug 28, 2022 10:59 AM in response to MrP26-3

You are accusing Apple of doing something, which they most assuredly would not do. Battery Health declines all on its own and it's not a linear decline. You may see periods when Battery Health remains the same, then drops more regularly. Battery Health will continue to decline on every iPhone out there and there is no way to stop it. It's what batteries do. ALL BATTERIES.


You don't say how long you have owned your iPhone 12, but a good rule of thumb would be expect a 1% decline in Battery Health per month of ownership.


Bottom line, Apple has done nothing nefarious. Your phone's Battery Health will continue to decline. And you don't have an issue to deal with until your Battery Health has declined to 80%, at which time you should pay Apple to replace the battery in your iPhone.

Aug 28, 2022 11:40 AM in response to MrP26-3

No, they don’t do that. If they got caught it would cost them billions in lawsuits. That conspiracy theory is in the same class as the earth is flat. If it was true, My iPhone XR was bought 5 generations ago (11, 12 and 13, plus the 2nd and 3rd generation SE), and with the next generation just weeks away if it was true my battery life would now be 5 minutes, instead of giving me a full day’s use after charging overnight with substantial reserve at the end of the day, the same (or actually slightly better) than it was when the phone was new.

Battery capacity

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