Unexpected Shutdown at 12% Battery on New M3 Pro MacBook Pro

ymmma wrote:

Hello,

I’m experiencing an issue with my 3-month-old M3 Pro MacBook Pro. Despite showing 100% battery health, the device shuts down unexpectedly every time the battery level reaches 12%. I’ve tested this twice by fully charging the battery, and the issue persists.

Since purchasing the MacBook, I’ve maintained a charging range of 20% to 80% and have never let the battery drop below 20% until this week. However, when the battery first reached 12%, the MacBook shut down abruptly and would not turn back on until I connected the charger. Upon reconnecting, it began charging from 12%. After fully charging it again, I allowed the battery to drain, and the same issue occurred when it hit 12%.

Could this be related to a hardware issue, such as the battery calibration or power management system? I’d appreciate your guidance in diagnosing and resolving this problem. If further details are needed, I’d be happy to provide them.

Thank you for your assistance, and I look forward to your support.

Seems normal, I would not push it down to 12%. It's not a perfect science.

The rule of thumb—if you are near the mains leave it plugged in, if you need the portability then run on the battery only—this is how you help optimize your battery charging and extend the working life of your battery by reducing the cycle count.

M1/M2/M3/M4 SoC

About battery health management in Mac notebooks - Apple Support

you can do a A SafeBoot if you think you have an issue.

Does a quick disk repair before it fully boots up, and certain system caches get cleared and rebuilt, third party system modifications and system accelerations are disabled temporarily.

Login and test. Reboot as normal and test. Caches get rebuilt automatically.

ymmma wrote:

Thank you for your response!

I’m curious, though—why does this behavior seem normal? Shouldn’t the battery drain closer to 0% before shutting down? I don’t usually let it discharge that low, but on this occasion, I didn’t have my charger with me and assumed I could use the remaining 12%. I was surprised when it turned off so abruptly.

I’ll definitely try the SafeBoot method to see if it resolves the issue. Thanks again for your help!

Your 12% is relative not absolute...

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