Which New IPhone 17 Has the Best Battery Life?
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Apple hasn’t made it any easier to choose a new iPhone this year. The $799 iPhone 17 packs features previously exclusive to the Pro without raising the price; the iPhone 17 Pro , again, has the best and most diverse camera system of any model; and the iPhone Air is simply gorgeous.
There are plenty of reasons to choose one of these new iPhones over the other, but it all becomes a little clearer when you focus on one specific metric: battery life. Whether you’re looking to take the best photos possible or have the thinnest iPhone ever, the size and longevity of your iPhone’s battery will affect you. That’s why many of us are obsessed with battery life and its health .
Comparing the battery life of all four new iPhones
Apple doesn’t publish battery specs for its iPhones, so we’ll have to wait for some reviews to tear down these new devices to find out how big they really are. However, we can judge by Apple’s odd claims about the battery capacity for each device. For the iPhone, Apple looks to video playback time as an indicator of overall battery life. Using this comparison tool , we can see the following timelines for each new iPhone:
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iPhone 17: Up to 30 hours (27 hours streaming)
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iPhone Air: Up to 27 hours (22 hours streaming)
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iPhone 17 Pro: Up to 33 hours (30 hours streaming)
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iPhone 17 Pro Max: Up to 39 hours (up to 35 hours streaming)
Based solely on these numbers, if you want the best battery life possible, you’ll want to go with the 17 Pro Max. It crushes every other iPhone 17 model, especially the iPhone Air. As great as it is, I do n’t think this is the iPhone for people who hate worrying about battery life. While 27 hours isn’t bad at all, that’s only for video playback. If you’re doing more demanding tasks, including photo or video shooting, video calls, streaming, or gaming, it’s going to eat up the battery much faster. According to Apple, the Air has about the same battery life as the iPhone 15 Plus or iPhone 13 Pro Max, so if you’re upgrading from one of those iPhones, you can expect similar battery performance here.
I noticed the Air’s smaller battery during Apple’s announcement , when the company said the Air still gets all-day battery life but didn’t provide any numbers. It’s understandable why. The company provided the numbers when discussing the Air’s new MagSafe battery, which when used with the Air delivers 40 hours of video playback or 35 hours of streaming. Technically, the Air with the MagSafe battery has the best battery life of all four iPhones, but if you add the battery to any of the three above, that advantage is instantly erased. So I’m not including those numbers.
However, when you look at these iPhones up close, they actually have pretty good battery life — at least compared to the previous generation of iPhones. Here’s a comparison with the iPhone 16:
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iPhone 16: 22 hours (18 hours streaming)
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iPhone 16 Plus: 27 hours (24 hours streaming)
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iPhone 16 Pro: 27 hours (22 hours streaming)
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iPhone 16 Pro Max: 33 hours (29 hours streaming)
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iPhone 16e: 26 hours (21 hours streaming)
This year, Apple managed to increase video playback time on the base model by eight hours compared to last year’s iPhone 16, while the iPhone Air’s battery life is comparable to the iPhone 16 Plus. The iPhone 17 Pro’s battery life is the same as the iPhone 16 Pro Max , and the comparison clearly demonstrates the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s battery capacity.
What to Consider Before Buying an iPhone to Assess Battery Life
If you’re buying a new iPhone just for battery life, you have no choice but to go with the 17 Pro Max. However, if you have other requirements or the 17 Pro Max is too much for you, I recommend using Apple’s comparison tool to see what your current iPhone’s battery life is like. Then compare it to the new iPhones to see how it stacks up. For example, if you’re upgrading from an iPhone 14, your phone was rated for just 20 hours of video playback when it was new. Unless you’ve recently replaced the battery, it’s probably not reaching those maximums, so any of the new iPhones will likely last longer. But if you’re upgrading from a 15 Pro Max with its 29 hours of video playback potential, the Air will die a little sooner than you might be used to.