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Leak claims to reveal iPhone 16 battery sizes … with a bizarre twist

A new leak today claims to offer details on iPhone 16 battery sizes. According to this sketchy rumor, the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max will feature larger batteries than their iPhone 15 counterparts. The iPhone 16 Plus, however, will reportedly take a step back…

As a refresher, here are the battery capacities of the iPhone 15 lineup:

  • iPhone 15: 3,349 mAh
  • iPhone 15 Plus: 4,383 mAh
  • iPhone 15 Pro: 3,274 mAh
  • iPhone 15 Pro Max: 4,422 mAh

Today’s leak comes from an anonymous account on Weibo. I’d treat it with a healthy dose of skepticism, as this source doesn’t yet have a proven track record of accurate leaks. Nonetheless, here’s what the account says we can expect from iPhone 16 battery sizes:

  • iPhone 16: 3,561 mAh (up 6.3%)
  • iPhone 16 Plus: 4,006 mAh (down 8.6%)
  • iPhone 16 Pro: 3,355 mAh (up 2.5%)
  • iPhone 16 Pro Max: 4,676 mAh (up 5.7%)

As pointed out by MacRumors, these numbers align with previous reporting from Majin Bu on social media.

9to5Mac’s Take

These capacity numbers don’t paint a full picture of what to expect from real-world iPhone battery life.

When battery capacity increases, there are two ways Apple can manage this change. Apple could focus on battery life improvements and opt for smaller performance gains. It could also do the inverse and keep battery life and efficiency roughly the same while drastically increasing performance capabilities.

Also, worth keeping in mind: the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are rumored to have slightly larger screens than their predecessors. This means that any increase in battery capacity would likely be offset by the extra power draw of the larger screens.

The interesting twist this time around is the claim that the iPhone 16 Plus will actually have a smaller battery than its predecessor. This doesn’t make much sense at all. Apple has repeatedly touted iPhone 15 Plus battery life in its advertising. It’s possible that Apple believes it can eke out the same battery life in the iPhone 16 Plus, despite a smaller physical battery due to other efficiency changes. In turn, this would theoretically make the iPhone 16 Plus even lighter than it is now.

What do you think of these iPhone 16 battery capacity rumors? How’s your current iPhone’s battery life holding up? Let us know down in the comments.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com