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What’s the deal with iPhone Air battery life? Can a smartphone this thin actually last all day? Or at least, most of the day? Mark is here to report the results of the new iPhone Air battery test based on the standard battery test we run on every phone that comes to our lab. These numbers should give you a good idea of what to expect without using the new iPhone battery pack, as well as how the iPhone Air vs. Galaxy S25 Edge stack up in terms of stamina.
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So the iPhone Air is here, and if you've been online at all, you know the chatter
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Battery life has got to be terrible. Thin phones don't last. And honestly, I don't think it helped that Apple even launched a new $99 battery pack
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alongside the iPhone Air, like it was expecting there to be a problem. But what is the truth when it comes to the iPhone Air battery life
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I've been testing this thing basically nonstop for days now, including running the infamous Tom's Guide battery test
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alongside all the other typical benchmarks. This video, we're only talking about the battery
0:28
So if you want to see the rest of my benchmarks and a more holistic iPhone Air review, it's linked in the description
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For those new to the channel, at Tom's Guide, we run a standardized battery test across every phone
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The screen is locked to 150 nits. The phone's on 5G, and it just keeps surfing the web until it dies
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That way, the results are consistent and easy to compare. So much so that we even keep a running list of the best phones for battery life, which I'll link below
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Drumroll, please. The iPhone Air battery life lasted 12 hours, 2 minutes, and 55 seconds, basically 12 hours flat
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Before you go off about how Apple advertises longer than that, keep in mind that our web
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surfing test is demanding on purpose. It's a baseline for comparison, and everyone uses their
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phone differently with different settings, apps, etc., and all of that will cause variation
1:17
And that said, 12 hours actually isn't that bad. Honestly, I was expecting worse
1:21
We ran a fresh test on the Galaxy S25 Edge, and you know we got to compare the thin phones
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It lasted 11 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds, so the iPhone Air has a beat out by just 14 minutes
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It might not sound like much, but I think Apple should still consider that a win. I also ran a video rundown test on YouTube over Wi-Fi at 50% brightness
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After five hours the iPhone Air was still at 81 while the Galaxy S25 Edge drained down to 67 But how does it compare to other iPhones We ran the same test on the iPhone 17 which runs the A19 chip compared to the A19 Pro in the Air It lasts 12 hours 47 minutes and 29 seconds
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So not even a full hour longer than the Air. I found that pretty interesting
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Then we have the Pros, which usually do land on our list I mentioned earlier. The iPhone 17 Pro Max is being advertised as the best iPhone battery life ever
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and lasting 17 hours, 54 minutes, and 32 seconds on our test
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It absolutely is. That's a massive contrast, 12 hours with the Air to nearly 18 hours with the iPhone 17 Pro Max
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And in that same 5-hour video streaming rundown, the 17 Pro Max was still at 88%
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The iPhone 17 Pro lasted 15 hours, 32 minutes, and 3 seconds, 3.5 hours more than the Air
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I know this video is about the iPhone Air, but we also retested the iPhone 16 Pro Max out of curiosity
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And yes, it still has 100% battery capacity, so I'm not cheating
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It lasted 14 hours, 17 minutes, and 11 seconds on our battery life test
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So we're seeing a three-hour improvement with the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Huge, huge difference
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So is the iPhone Air battery life good? That's subjective, of course, but by my standards
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as someone who has reviewed smartphones for a long time, it's strong considering just how thin it is
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Will you need to charge it sometimes midday if you're heavy on social media and gaming
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Probably. But honestly, I wasn't expecting it to last this long. For people who care about design and portability, it works
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Anyway, that's the iPhone Air battery life breakdown. Over the years, I have figured out some tricks to making your iPhone battery last longer
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so let me know if you'd want to see an episode of Setup Essentials about that
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But for now, let me know in the comments, were you expecting the worst, or is Apple actually impressing you this time
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If you liked this video, subscribe to the channel, and I hope to see you back here soon
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For Tom's Guide, this is Mark Spoonhour
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