00:00So the iPhone Air is here, and if you've been online at all, you know the chatter.
00:03Battery life has got to be terrible. Thin phones don't last. And honestly,
00:07I don't think it helped that Apple even launched a new $99 battery pack alongside the iPhone Air,
00:12like it was expecting there to be a problem. But what is the truth when it comes to the
00:16iPhone Air battery life? I've been testing this thing basically nonstop for days now,
00:20including running the infamous Tom's Guide battery test alongside all the other typical
00:25benchmarks. This video, we're only talking about the battery. So if you want to see the rest of my
00:30benchmarks and a more holistic iPhone Air review, it's linked in the description.
00:36For those new to the channel, at Tom's Guide, we run a standardized battery test across every phone.
00:41The screen is locked to 150 nits. The phone's on 5G, and it just keeps surfing the web until it dies.
00:47That way, the results are consistent and easy to compare. So much so that we even keep a running
00:52list of the best phones for battery life, which I'll link below. Drumroll, please.
00:58The iPhone Air battery life lasted 12 hours, 2 minutes, and 55 seconds. Basically, 12 hours flat.
01:04Before you go off about how Apple advertises longer than that, keep in mind that our web
01:08surfing test is demanding on purpose. It's a baseline for comparison, and everyone uses their
01:12phone differently with different settings, apps, etc. And all of that will cause variation.
01:17And that said, 12 hours actually isn't that bad. Honestly, I was expecting worse.
01:21We ran a fresh test on the Galaxy S25 Edge, and you know we got to compare the thin phones.
01:26It lasted 11 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. So, the iPhone Air has a beat out by just 14 minutes.
01:33It might not sound like much, but I think Apple should still consider that a win.
01:36I also ran a video rundown test on YouTube over Wi-Fi at 50% brightness. After 5 hours,
01:42the iPhone Air was still at 81%, while the Galaxy S25 Edge drained down to 67%.
01:47But how does it compare to other iPhones? We ran the same test on the iPhone 17,
01:52which runs the A19 chip compared to the A19 Pro, in the Air. It lasts 12 hours, 47 minutes,
01:58and 29 seconds. So, not even a full hour longer than the Air. I found that pretty interesting.
02:03Then we have the Pros, which usually do land on our list I mentioned earlier. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is
02:08being advertised as the best iPhone battery life ever, and lasting 17 hours, 54 minutes,
02:13and 32 seconds on our test. It absolutely is. That's a massive contrast, 12 hours with the Air
02:19to nearly 18 hours with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. And in that same 5-hour video streaming rundown,
02:24the 17 Pro Max was still at 88%. The iPhone 17 Pro lasted 15 hours, 32 minutes, and 3 seconds,
02:31three and a half hours more than the Air. I know this video is about the iPhone Air,
02:35but we also retested the iPhone 16 Pro Max out of curiosity. And yes, it still has a 100% battery
02:41capacity, so I'm not cheating. It lasted 14 hours, 17 minutes, and 11 seconds on our battery life test.
02:46So, we're seeing a 3-hour improvement with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Huge, huge difference.
02:53So, is the iPhone Air battery life good? That's subjective, of course, but by my standards,
02:57as someone who has reviewed smartphones for a long time, it's strong considering just how thin it is.
03:02Will you need to charge it sometimes midday if you're heavy on social media and gaming? Probably.
03:08But honestly, I wasn't expecting it to last this long. For people who care about design and portability,
03:13it works. Anyway, that's the iPhone Air battery life breakdown. Over the years,
03:17I have figured out some tricks to making your iPhone battery last longer,
03:20so let me know if you'd want to see an episode of Setup Essentials about that. But for now,
03:24let me know in the comments, were you expecting the worst, or is Apple actually impressing you this time?
03:29If you liked this video, subscribe to the channel, and I hope to see you back here soon.
03:33For Tom's Guide, this is Mark Spoonhour.
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