iPhone XS With Dark Mode Has Better Battery Life Than iPhone XR?

abeldemozabeldemoz
Posted:
in iPhone
Hi all,

I'm making a decision between iPhone XS and iPhone XR for the holidays. The deciding factors in my purchasing decision are one-handed use and battery life as I cannot discern the differences between LCD and OLED unless I look for them. iPhone XS offers better one-handed use whereas iPhone XR offers better battery life... for now.

It's rumoured that iOS 13 will have a design overhaul and quite possibly dark mode. Dark mode will undoubtedly save battery on the OLED panels, but the question is whether the amount of battery it saves will put the battery life of the iPhone XS on par with the iPhone XR in normal day-to-day use. If so, I'll end up going with the iPhone XS for its one-handed use; otherwise, I'll end up going with the iPhone XR.

Any help would be appreciated.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    abeldemozabeldemoz Posts: 5member
    abeldemoz said:
    Hi all,

    I'm making a decision between iPhone XS and iPhone XR for the holidays. The deciding factors in my purchasing decision are one-handed use and battery life as I cannot discern the differences between LCD and OLED unless I look for them. iPhone XS offers better one-handed use whereas iPhone XR offers better battery life... for now.

    It's rumoured that iOS 13 will have a design overhaul and quite possibly dark mode. Dark mode will undoubtedly save battery on the OLED panels, but the question is whether the amount of battery it saves will put the battery life of the iPhone XS on par with the iPhone XR in normal day-to-day use. If so, I'll end up going with the iPhone XS for its one-handed use; otherwise, I'll end up going with the iPhone XR.

    Any help would be appreciated.
    P.S. appleinsider posted a video on their YouTube channel which looks at smart invert and its effect on the iPhone X. However, this video only compared the iPhone X with smart invert turned on to the iPhone X with the smart invert turned off. There is no direct comparison between the iPhone XR and the iPhone XS with smart invert as of yet, which would be somewhat indicative of what to expect from dark mode's power consumption in iOS 13.
  • Reply 2 of 8
    MadtigerMadtiger Posts: 240member
    abeldemoz said:
    Hi all,

    I'm making a decision between iPhone XS and iPhone XR for the holidays. The deciding factors in my purchasing decision are one-handed use and battery life as I cannot discern the differences between LCD and OLED unless I look for them. iPhone XS offers better one-handed use whereas iPhone XR offers better battery life... for now.

    It's rumoured that iOS 13 will have a design overhaul and quite possibly dark mode. Dark mode will undoubtedly save battery on the OLED panels, but the question is whether the amount of battery it saves will put the battery life of the iPhone XS on par with the iPhone XR in normal day-to-day use. If so, I'll end up going with the iPhone XS for its one-handed use; otherwise, I'll end up going with the iPhone XR.

    Any help would be appreciated.
    XR has bigger battery and a perfect rectangle battery (not some weird L-shaped thingy on XS).  XR has lower screen resolution (less drag on processor).  XR has less RAM (which indirectly helps with battery life).  Same 7nm processor.

    Dark mode is NOT going to make XS beat XR...forget about it.  Won’t be close.

    BTW, i am a XS owner.
    edited December 2018 abeldemoz
  • Reply 3 of 8
    abeldemozabeldemoz Posts: 5member
    Do you personally get a full day of use with the XS? What's your average screen on time for the day?
  • Reply 4 of 8
    thttht Posts: 5,443member
    If Apple wanted to, they could put in a UI option that only uses half of the XS display. Full color and everything. That’s like a de facto factor of two savings on the power consumption of the display, and could extend runtimes by about 30%.  ;)

    But who buys a large display machine to only use half the display? Or buys a display with state of the art color and only run it green font on black background?
    edited December 2018 abeldemoz
  • Reply 5 of 8
    MadtigerMadtiger Posts: 240member
    abeldemoz said:
    Do you personally get a full day of use with the XS? What's your average screen on time for the day?
    It does last whole day. I use it a lot for minor stuff (surfing, email, check stocks). Game some. 

    Battery is is not a concern of mine. No plan on getting battery pack either. 
  • Reply 6 of 8
    abeldemozabeldemoz Posts: 5member
    tht said:
    If Apple wanted to, they could put in a UI option that only uses half of the XS display. Full color and everything. That’s like a de facto factor of two savings on the power consumption of the display, and could extend runtimes by about 30%.  ;)

    But who buys a large display machine to only use half the display? Or buys a display with state of the art color and only run it green font on black background?
    I'm a Mac user and I have dark mode enabled on macOS Mojave. I prefer dark mode for aesthetic reasons and I'll probably enable it on iOS 13 regardless of whether I'm on an OLED or LCD phone.

    If dark mode can extend run times by even 20% on the XS then that would put its battery life on par with the XR if I'm not mistaken. Correct me if I'm wrong :)
  • Reply 7 of 8
    MadtigerMadtiger Posts: 240member
    abeldemoz said:
    tht said:
    If Apple wanted to, they could put in a UI option that only uses half of the XS display. Full color and everything. That’s like a de facto factor of two savings on the power consumption of the display, and could extend runtimes by about 30%.  ;)

    But who buys a large display machine to only use half the display? Or buys a display with state of the art color and only run it green font on black background?
    I'm a Mac user and I have dark mode enabled on macOS Mojave. I prefer dark mode for aesthetic reasons and I'll probably enable it on iOS 13 regardless of whether I'm on an OLED or LCD phone.

    If dark mode can extend run times by even 20% on the XS then that would put its battery life on par with the XR if I'm not mistaken. Correct me if I'm wrong :)
    20% improvement with just dark mode?  I will be glad to use it then....but i think XR has too many advantages (noted above) for XS to overcome.  
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