MacBook Air M1 Battery health drops rapidly (86 cycles)

My MacBook Air M1, which is 5 months old with just 86 cycle counts, has seen a drop in battery health to 91%. Surprisingly, my friend's MacBook, which is over a year old, still maintains a 93% battery health. I don't believe I'm doing anything wrong as I always keep it between 20% and 80%. However, I do use the laptop while it's charging—could this be affecting the battery health? Additionally, the environment is cold, so there's no overheating occurring.


MacBook Air 13″, macOS 14.1

Posted on Dec 10, 2023 2:07 PM

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Dec 12, 2023 2:27 PM in response to Vikash_kr

In addition to @John Galt's excellent response....


As for the Battery Health and Battery Maximum Capacity, see this explanation of the Battery's Maximum Capacity value:


Keep in mind Apple only just recently showed the Battery Maximum Capacity in macOS so people have never seen how the Lithium Batteries degrade over time. In fact, the Maximum Capacity can fluctuate up & down. For example....a battery with a Full Charge Capacity of 4,315 mAh (battery for MBPro 13" 2017). A 200mAh fluctuation results in a fluctuation of 5%. A 200 mAh fluctuation is not unusual for an Apple Lithium Battery. I only begin to worry about the battery once the fluctuations get to 400 - 500 mAh.


Design Capacity = 4,315 mAh = 100%


Full Charge Capacity = 4,115 mAh = 95%


Before Apple exposed the Battery Maximum Capacity value, the only people who may even have noticed were the users utilizing a third party app such as Coconut Battery to monitor their batteries health.


Unfortunately even most Apple techs are not aware of these specific details. I only discovered it when I analyzed my organization's Apple laptops when people were complaining of battery related issues, but macOS showed the Battery Condition as Normal and the Apple Diagnostics reported no issues either. Apple only cares about when macOS shows the Battery Condition is "Service Recommended", or when the Battery Cycle Count is over 1,000 cycles, or the Apple Diagnostics report a battery failure.


Most battery draining issues will be due to software issues (usually third party), or cloud based services (iCloud, One Drive, DropBox, etc.), or a configuration issue. Also make sure to disconnect all external devices in case one of them is causing a problem.


You can take the laptop to an Apple Store to be examined, but they won't do anything unless one of those conditions I mentioned are met.


My recommendation to everyone is to ignore the battery information until the battery no longer performs to your expectations to see if it merits a replacement. Some people may be happy with the battery performance even when the Battery Maximum Capacity is below 80%....it all depends on a user's workload & expectations.

Dec 10, 2023 5:15 PM in response to Vikash_kr

You probably are not doing anything wrong. A difference of a percent or two is meaningless.


However, I do use the laptop while it's charging—could this be affecting the battery health?


No. It's perfectly ok to use your Mac while it is charging. Or not charging. Doesn't matter.


Read Batteries - Why Lithium-ion? - Apple and Batteries - Maximizing Performance - Apple.

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MacBook Air M1 Battery health drops rapidly (86 cycles)

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