Apple only gives the relative battery life endurance compared to its previous iPhones in limited situations like watching local or streaming video, or listening to music. Later on we add our own benchmark tests during reviews which include testing the battery life while browsing and gaming under identical conditions, too, for a more complete picture of the new iPhones’ endurance.
Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Plus battery life mystery
Thus, we don’t know what prompts Apple to list the iPhone 14 Plus as having “our longest battery life ever” given that its own numbers contradict this claim, but we’d wager to guess that it has something to do with marketing and upselling is new form factor of a big and “affordable” Plus phone.
Apple’s claim doesn’t make any sense from a physics perspective, too, as the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s battery is a fraction of a percentage smaller than the Plus’s one, and a puny 457 PPI vs 460 PPI display pixel density difference wouldn’t bring such drastic differences in battery life.
As if to confirm that speculation, Apple only gives longer battery life numbers for the iPhone 14 Plus against the 14 Pro Max ones when the display isn’t in the picture, like during audio playback. We’ll run our battery benchmarks on the two phones, but for now don’t let Apple’s advertising fool you – the iPhone 14 Pro Max would very likely have better battery life in everyday usage scenarios than the iPhone 14 Plus.
iPhone 14 series battery capacities
Phone | Battery size | Video playback | Video playback (streamed) | Audio playback |
---|---|---|---|---|
iPhone 14 | 3279mAh vs 3227mAh (iPhone 13) | Up to 20hrs | Up to 16hrs | Up to 80hrs |
iPhone 14 Plus | 4325mAh | Up to 26hrs | Up to 20hrs | Up to 100hrs |
iPhone 14 Pro | 3200mAh vs 3095mAh (iPhone 13 Pro) | Up to 23hrs | Up to 20hrs | Up to 75hrs |
iPhone 14 Pro Max | 4323mAh vs 4352mAh (iPhone 13 Pro Max) | Up to 29hrs | Up to 25hrs | Up to 95hrs |
As you can see, Apple bumped the iPhone 14 vs iPhone 13 battery capacities by a little bit, but the average size grew by much more, as it no longer has the mini model in its 2022 roster, but rather the huge (for Apple) 4325mAh pack in the iPhone 14 Plus.