The tagline for Apple's special event tomorrow is "Awe dropping," and the iPhone 17 Pro's battery life might live up to the hype.
As we recently reported, alleged battery capacities for all of the iPhone 17 models have surfaced in a Chinese regulatory database. The alleged capacity for the iPhone 17 Pro is particularly impressive, and it is worth discussing in more detail.
The smaller iPhone 17 Pro model with a 6.3-inch display will apparently be equipped with a 4,252 mAh battery for configurations without a SIM card tray. If that information is accurate, that is a nearly 20% increase (18.7% to be precise) in capacity over the iPhone 16 Pro's 3,582 mAh battery, which is a significant year-over-year improvement. This will likely translate to Apple saying the iPhone 17 Pro offers hours of additional battery life.
While the iPhone 16 Pro Max's 4,685 mAh battery would still top the iPhone 17 Pro, the A19 Pro chip should deliver more power efficiency improvements, so we will see if the iPhone 17 Pro can get close to current Pro Max battery life.
Apple removed the SIM card tray from iPhones in the U.S. starting with the iPhone 14 series, but it has simply put a piece of plastic where the tray used to be inside those devices. As a result, all iPhone 14 through iPhone 16 models sold in the U.S. have the same battery capacities as the equivalent models sold in other countries.
Starting with the iPhone 17 series, it appears that Apple will now include a larger battery in models without a SIM card tray, rather than filling the void with a plastic piece. This change helps to explain why it appears that the iPhone 17 Pro's battery capacity will increase in a meaningful way this year. The timing of this change coincides with expectations that Apple will eliminate the SIM card tray in more countries, with the iPhone 17 series likely to be eSIM-only in the EU and select other regions. iPhone 17 models sold in China will likely still have a SIM card tray or even two, due to local regulatory hurdles.
The lengthy iPhone 17 rumor cycle is finally drawing to a close. Stay tuned for in-depth coverage of Apple's event tomorrow, starting at 10 a.m. Pacific Time.
