Tests show iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro batteries last two hours less under 5G

Comments

• Reply 1 of 34

  JFC_PA Posts: 932member

  October 21, 2020 12:35PM

  That’s likely why the 5G controls are so granular. 

  
  

  “

  Learn about 5G options

  The default settings for 5G on iPhone are optimized for battery life and data usage based on your data plan. You can customize these options for when to use 5G and how much data to use in some apps.

  Find these options by going to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options. If you're using Dual SIM, go to Settings > Cellular and choose the number whose options you want to change....”

  
  

  https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211828
  

  edited October 2020
• Reply 2 of 34

  razorpit Posts: 1,796member

  October 21, 2020 12:54PM

  Tom's Guide did not replicate the same conditions with Android phones, it didn't run their batteries down on 4G and separately on 5G. Instead it more tested the impact of choosing faster screen refresh rates.

  So if I’m reading this right, Tom’s Guide did it half-assed. (Using technical terms here.) It appears it wasn’t done under real world usage/conditions, the things Apple based their design around.
  
  While it appears the sky is falling, no one is going continuous 5G in 2020, 2021, or maybe even 2022. I’d be interested in seeing Tom’s Guide do a complete real world test.

  edited October 2020
• Reply 3 of 34

  libertyandfree Posts: 158member

  October 21, 2020 1:25PM

  There are also different types of 5G and we also have seen tests that shows iPhone 12 5G speeds are significantly faster than any Android phone.  So in summary this is a big todo about nothing. 5G in 2021 will be spotty at best and recall how long it took for 3G and 4G to become the dominant service - years.  

  
• Reply 4 of 34

  MacPro Posts: 19,727member

  October 21, 2020 1:37PM

  Tom's Guide is so Apple-centric so of course, it was a sensible and fair test, I am sure Apple didn't design these phones to auto-switch back and forth when required to conserve battery life.  Apple wants its premier phones to go flat as fast as possible./s

  
• Reply 5 of 34

  sdw2001 Posts: 18,016member

  October 21, 2020 2:12PM

  Not surprising.  It's not even a real comparison to Android, either.  

  
• Reply 6 of 34

  mushmash Posts: 24member

  October 21, 2020 3:24PM

  I’ll be switching off 5G completely as there’s not really any coverage to speak of around here anyways.
  
  I still think rushing to include 5G was pointless, and driven by android manufacturers who always need to include as many features as possible if they wanna ship more than four units.
  
  Sure, future-proofing is all well and good, but 5G won’t be of any real interest for another year or two, and 4G is still more than enough for normal people.

  
• Reply 7 of 34

  GeorgeBMac Posts: 11,421member

  October 21, 2020 3:44PM

  mushmash said:

  I’ll be switching off 5G completely as there’s not really any coverage to speak of around here anyways.
  
  I still think rushing to include 5G was pointless, and driven by android manufacturers who always need to include as many features as possible if they wanna ship more than four units.
  
  Sure, future-proofing is all well and good, but 5G won’t be of any real interest for another year or two, and 4G is still more than enough for normal people.

  
  

  Then switch it off if you don't want it.  It takes less energy than complaining about it.

  It's doubtful Apple could have sold a phone in China without it.   And few in other, less developed countries would have wanted to invest in a phone knowing it's communications would soon be obsolete.   It wasn't an option.
  

  
• Reply 8 of 34

  fastasleep Posts: 6,418member

  October 21, 2020 5:06PM

  mushmash said:

  I’ll be switching off 5G completely as there’s not really any coverage to speak of around here anyways.
  

  That makes zero sense. 

  
• Reply 9 of 34

  simply258 Posts: 133member

  October 21, 2020 5:34PM

  It’s weird that they would compare based on hours rather than percentage of decrease, as battery sizes differ.

  
• Reply 10 of 34

  flydog Posts: 1,124member

  October 21, 2020 6:40PM

  A pointless comparison since the testing scenario is one that would never occur in real life.  

  
• Reply 11 of 34

  rikipedia Posts: 23member

  October 21, 2020 6:58PM

  flydog said:

  A pointless comparison since the testing scenario is one that would never occur in real life.  

  Let's face it, the entire iPhone12 line is pointless.
• Reply 12 of 34

  chadbag Posts: 2,000member

  October 21, 2020 7:49PM

  rikipedia said:

  flydog said:

  A pointless comparison since the testing scenario is one that would never occur in real life.  

  Let's face it, the entire iPhone12 line is pointless.

  They did get rid of the rounded edges so maybe a bit more "pointed" than last year's. 

  
• Reply 13 of 34

  entropys Posts: 4,168member

  October 21, 2020 8:20PM

  If you lock it on 5G isn’t that what you expect? The phone is doing more “work”. Even if you aren’t actively downloading as it is scrabbling for the signal.
  Anyway, I am buying the 12 mini for its size, not 5G. I get around 195 Mbps around here (south Brisbane) on LTE anyway.

  edited October 2020
• Reply 14 of 34

  JFC_PA Posts: 932member

  October 21, 2020 8:37PM

  fastasleep said:

  mushmash said:

  I’ll be switching off 5G completely as there’s not really any coverage to speak of around here anyways.
  

  That makes zero sense. 

  Well it makes sense to me. For ex. when I hike and am long out of range of any cell tower I put my iPhone in airplane mode for exactly the same reason: stop wasting battery power on an energy consuming function I’m not interested (or capable) of accessing. 

  
• Reply 15 of 34

  StrangeDays Posts: 12,879member

  October 21, 2020 9:26PM

  rikipedia said:

  flydog said:

  A pointless comparison since the testing scenario is one that would never occur in real life.  

  Let's face it, the entire iPhone12 line is pointless.

  Troll says what?
  
  20% speed across the line, 5G for those who care, MagSafe for x2 charging, faster aperture for better low-light, ProRAW mode, Dolby Vision video for 60x more color, Night Mode on all lenses, Pro has LiDAR, Pro Max has larger sensor and purported 87% increase in low-light, new OIS, 4x tougher screen, etc etc... in short, get real.
  
  THE IPHONE 12 IS FANTASTIC
  
  "you can easily see the improvement year over year with the 1× main lens going from ƒ/1.8 to ƒ/1.6 on both phones"
  
  https://daringfireball.net/2020/10/the_iphone_12_and_iphone_12_pro
  

  edited October 2020
• Reply 16 of 34

  StrangeDays Posts: 12,879member

  October 21, 2020 9:44PM

  
  

  JFC_PA said:

  fastasleep said:

  mushmash said:

  I’ll be switching off 5G completely as there’s not really any coverage to speak of around here anyways.
  

  That makes zero sense. 

  Well it makes sense to me. For ex. when I hike and am long out of range of any cell tower I put my iPhone in airplane mode for exactly the same reason: stop wasting battery power on an energy consuming function I’m not interested (or capable) of accessing. 

  Does 5G work that way? I'm under the impression that if you aren't in a 5G network, you won't lose battery life, because the battery cost is from using it, not not-using it. 
  
  Here's what Gruber explained:
  
  As for testing 5G’s potentially deleterious effect on battery life: that’s beyond the scope of this review, alas. But I will point out that iOS 14.1 has three separate options in Settings → Cellular → Cellular Data Options → Voice & Data:
  
  

  • 5G On
  • 5G Auto
  • LTE

  
  

  Apple’s description: “5G On uses 5G whenever it is available, even when it may reduce battery life. 5G Auto uses 5G only when it will not significantly reduce battery life.” 5G Auto is the default, and that’s where I left it all week. Overall daily battery life seemed about what I’d expect while using these devices pretty extensively.
  

  edited October 2020
• Reply 17 of 34

  crowley Posts: 10,453member

  October 21, 2020 9:48PM

  fastasleep said:

  mushmash said:

  I’ll be switching off 5G completely as there’s not really any coverage to speak of around here anyways.
  

  That makes zero sense. 

  Does it?  Why power a radio that you aren't using?
  
  I often turn off bluetooth and wi-fi when I'm not using them too; no sense in power going to waste.
• Reply 18 of 34

  MplsP Posts: 3,931member

  October 21, 2020 10:30PM

  This is interesting and was one of my concerns about including 5G - there's a both a financial and a performance cost with no benefit. Because of the test, it's hard to say how accurate it is, but another consideration is the fact that Android phones are able to take advantage of the 5G modem being built into the processor where Apple is required to use a discrete chip -this has financial, power and space costs. We'll see how this shapes up once more real world data is available. 
  
  Long term this is another reason Apple will want to make its own 5G modem. They can integrate and optimize it far better than a discrete 3rd party chip.
  

  fastasleep said:

  mushmash said:

  I’ll be switching off 5G completely as there’s not really any coverage to speak of around here anyways.
  

  That makes zero sense. 

  What makes zero sense - turning off a feature that isn't useful or needed and takes extra battery life? Or how everyone is pushing for 5G when there's no real use for it? Or maybe just your comment?
  
  

  mushmash said:

  I’ll be switching off 5G completely as there’s not really any coverage to speak of around here anyways.
  
  I still think rushing to include 5G was pointless, and driven by android manufacturers who always need to include as many features as possible if they wanna ship more than four units.
  
  Sure, future-proofing is all well and good, but 5G won’t be of any real interest for another year or two, and 4G is still more than enough for normal people.

  You are, of course, completely right. A couple months ago PC Mag did a comparison of 5G coverage and speeds. The bottom line is speeds were marginally better and sometimes actually slower than LTE speeds, coverage was widely variable and latency was not different enough to matter. Of note, LTE speeds in Canada were actually better than 5G speeds in the U.S. And not one person on this site has been able to give a real life example of a use that requires 5G in a smartphone. 
  
  Someday 5G may be important, but certainly not today and probably not for at least 1-2 years. I know I'll get jumped on for this statement, but we were having the exact same discussion a year ago and the zealots were all touting how fast 5G was being rolled out. Well, here we are a year later and virtually nothing has changed. For now, if you need a new phone, go ahead and get an iPhone 12, but don't rush out and get one just for 5G. 

  edited October 2020
• Reply 19 of 34

  MplsP Posts: 3,931member

  October 21, 2020 11:38PM

  StrangeDays said:

  
  

  JFC_PA said:

  fastasleep said:

  mushmash said:

  I’ll be switching off 5G completely as there’s not really any coverage to speak of around here anyways.
  

  That makes zero sense. 

  Well it makes sense to me. For ex. when I hike and am long out of range of any cell tower I put my iPhone in airplane mode for exactly the same reason: stop wasting battery power on an energy consuming function I’m not interested (or capable) of accessing. 

  Does 5G work that way? I'm under the impression that if you aren't in a 5G network, you won't lose battery life, because the battery cost is from using it, not not-using it. 
  
  Here's what Gruber explained:
  
  As for testing 5G’s potentially deleterious effect on battery life: that’s beyond the scope of this review, alas. But I will point out that iOS 14.1 has three separate options in Settings → Cellular → Cellular Data Options → Voice & Data:
  
  

  • 5G On
  • 5G Auto
  • LTE

  
  

  Apple’s description: “5G On uses 5G whenever it is available, even when it may reduce battery life. 5G Auto uses 5G only when it will not significantly reduce battery life.” 5G Auto is the default, and that’s where I left it all week. Overall daily battery life seemed about what I’d expect while using these devices pretty extensively.
  

  I would expect the default ‘5G auto’ setting to give good results, but it will still have the 5G modem powered on and searching. Just like turning off Bluetooth completely can improve battery life, I wouldn’t be surprised if turning off 5G completely can help as well. 

  
• Reply 20 of 34

  fastasleep Posts: 6,418member

  October 22, 2020 12:36AM

  rikipedia said:

  flydog said:

  A pointless comparison since the testing scenario is one that would never occur in real life.  

  Let's face it, the entire iPhone12 line is pointless.

  Thanks for letting me know! I'll tell my UPS driver on Friday, "No thanks! Some troll on an Internet forum said this thing is pointless. Please return to sender!"