Next Generation iPhone Battery Only Marginally Higher Capacity - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Next Generation iPhone Battery Only Marginally Higher Capacity

iphone5batteries
Part photos of the new battery for the next generation iPhone have been posted by 9to5Mac. The part shows only a minor increase in capacity from 3.7V/1430mAh/5.3Whr in the iPhone 4S to 3.8V/1440mAh/5.45Whr in the rumored iPhone 5. No dimensions are provided to compare the size of the battery to the current iPhone batteries.

The next generation iPhone is believed to be a taller but thinner device. The increased height, however, is more than offset by the reduction in thickness which results in a decreased internal volume of the device as compared to the iPhone 4 and 4S. If this part leak is to believed, Apple hasn't been able to significantly increase the battery capacity on the new iPhone.

The new iPhone is expected to include LTE data networking for the first time. LTE has traditionally required more power than the currently supported 3G networks. Apple's Tim Cook has said that the reason that Apple hadn't used LTE in iPhones is due to the "design compromises" required to build such a device. This has widely believed to have referred to the increased power requirement of existing LTE chips. Qualcomm is poised to release a new LTE chip that Anandtech believes will "likely increase LTE battery life to reasonable levels".

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

Dynamic Island iPhone 18 Pro Feature

11 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 18 Pro

Monday May 11, 2026 9:01 am PDT by
We're only four months out from the launch of Apple's premium next-generation smartphone lineup, and while we're not expecting a sea change in terms of functionality, there are still several enhancements rumored to be coming to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth noting is that Apple is reportedly planning a major change to its iPhone release cycle this year, adopting a...
iOS 26

iOS 26.5 Features: Everything New in iOS 26.5

Monday May 11, 2026 5:09 pm PDT by
Apple released iOS 26.5 after a few months of beta testing, and while it doesn't have the Siri features we were hoping for since those are being held until iOS 27, there are a handful of useful changes worth knowing about. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. End-to-End Encryption for RCS Support for end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages between iPhone and...
General Apps Reddit Feature

Reddit Starts Blocking Mobile Website, Pushing Users to App Instead

Monday May 11, 2026 6:10 am PDT by
Social network Reddit recently began blocking mobile visitors to its website while pushing them to download the official Reddit app, and it's fair to say that the move is not going down well with users. If you visit reddit.com on your iPhone today, you may see a new popup that can't be dismissed, asking you to "get the app to keep using Reddit." A Reddit spokesperson told Ars Technica...

Top Rated Comments

macaddiict Avatar
180 months ago
Note to Apple designers: it's thin enough. If you can make the phone guts any thinner, then make the battery bigger to keep it the same overall size of the 4S. I have heard no complaints that any of the iPhones are too thick -- ever, really.
Score: 63 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mr. Gates Avatar
180 months ago
Well it would seem the whole phone is a marginal upgrade :rolleyes:

Surprise ...It's taller
Score: 56 Votes (Like | Disagree)
JS82712 Avatar
180 months ago
aight apple, i don't care about how you change the phone's design, but if the next iPhone's battery is gonna suck more than my current 4S (which, is also horrible), then I will look for other phones. :mad:
Score: 47 Votes (Like | Disagree)
180 months ago
Must admit that the iPhone looks less and less interesting to those living outside the US. Maps, Siri, 4G, LTE would all seem to have limited use outside the US networks (and maybe a few others).

If all this additional stuff just eats up space/battery/cost for me to use normal 3G and WiFi I may as well buy the crappy Samsung for the bigger (in both dimensions) screen. No point "upgrading" when all the additional functionality I'm paying for won't be of use to me until the networks here catch up some time in 2016...
Score: 35 Votes (Like | Disagree)
180 months ago
apple's attitude is, "who cares, millions will buy it anyways. our loyal fans got suckered with the 4s. they will buy anything from us."
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)
180 months ago
I would have preferred the kept it the same thickness and increased the battery size.
Score: 33 Votes (Like | Disagree)