In under 18 months, my iPhone’s battery life has gone from great to terrible

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• My iPhone is lower than 18 months previous.
• It now can not make it by way of a day with out a recharge.
• Nothing seems irregular within the settings.

Fairly than do my normal and improve my iPhone once more final yr with solely a couple of yr on the clock, I made a decision to strive what most individuals find yourself having to do — hold it going for a couple of years. 

Apple says that the battery is designed to retain 80% of its authentic capability at 1,000 recharge cycles “beneath perfect circumstances.” At that time, when the battery’s most capability dips beneath the 80% mark, it’s functionally on the finish of its life and can want changing.

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So, I must be good for not less than a few years, proper? Mistaken.

Some background

The battery in my iPhone 15 Professional Max was manufactured in December 2023 and first utilized in March 2024 (it was delivered to me on March 9). On the time of writing, it is early September 2025, so the iPhone is round 17 months previous.

Additionally: Altering these iOS 18 settings considerably improved my iPhone’s battery life

Based on the information saved by the working system, battery well being is regular, most capability is 89% in comparison with when it was new, and it has been by way of 501 recharge cycles — virtually precisely midway by way of these 1,000 recharge cycles.

On high of that, I’ve taken each potential measure to take care of the battery: I’ve completely set the charging restrict to 80% (Settings > Battery > Charging), prevented preserving the handset on cost for excessively lengthy intervals, and ensured it stays away from excessive temperatures.

Now it would not final a day

I begin the day with an 80% cost as a result of that is the cost restrict I’ve it set at, and by late afternoon, it is hovering near — if not previous — the 20% zone.

This iPhone is operating a beta model of iOS 26, with Adaptive Energy enabled, so in principle it ought to handle battery consumption higher. Nevertheless, bugs are to be anticipated in beta software program, so I assumed which may have one thing to do with the difficulty and rolled again to the newest iOS 18 launch.

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No. Battery life isn’t any worse beneath iOS 26 than iOS 18.

Now, I’m fairly a heavy iPhone person. It is by no means greater than an arm’s attain away, and I routinely have music, Audible, or YouTube taking part in within the background with the display screen off (sure, I am the man paying for YouTube Premium). That is all the time been my utilization sample, so nothing has modified. I used to have the ability to make it to the night. Now, early afternoon is hard.

So, what is going on on?

What I am seeing here’s a symptom of heavy utilization. Not solely does it use extra battery through the day, nevertheless it additionally accelerates and intensifies battery degradation, thereby decreasing the general lifespan of the battery.

Additionally: The perfect energy banks you should buy in 2025

Now, it could possibly be simply me, however a fast search suggests I am not alone.

So, what are my choices if I needed this handset to final me three years?

Effectively, I am going to inform you now, I am completely satisfied that this handset will not make it to the three-year mark with out being a complete nuisance to make use of. I can eke extra battery life by rising the charging restrict from 80%, however that might seemingly speed up battery put on.

Additionally: Lastly, a light-weight energy financial institution for my iPhone that may additionally take a beating

I may additionally get the battery changed. That is what I am going to do. I am planning on changing this handset this yr, however I am unable to move it on on this situation.

Within the interim, I am going to seize one in every of my thin-and-light MagSafe energy banks and make that a part of my must-have on a regular basis carry.