As this photo of the original Mophie Juice Pack and Tylt’s Energi for iPhone 6 shows, iPhone battery cases haven’t changed much over the years. They’ve existed for almost as long as iPhones, and remained ubiquitous due to Apple’s continued focus on thinness over longevity. That hasn’t been great for consumers: as 9to5’s Seth Weintraub put it, people are more impacted by their phones’ battery life than an extra 2mm of thinness.
It took until 2014 for Apple to offer one iPhone model — the iPhone 6 Plus — with all-day battery life, though you have to be willing to accept a much larger footprint to get that. By comparison, the smaller and reportedly more popular iPhone 6 improved only around 7% upon the iPhone 5s in run time, so the typical iPhone user isn’t seeing much of an improvement over prior models.
With a variety of alternatives at Apple’s disposal, including some major chip improvements that are just around the corner, we wanted to pose two questions to our readership. Should Apple take a break from slimming down iPhones to focus on improving battery life? Or should it instead focus its efforts on making battery cases better? Read on for our thoughts, and share yours in the comments section below…
Option 1: Fix the iPhone
Apple’s easiest option is to fix the iPhone itself — to use its 2015 or 2016 iPhone event to unveil a new model with all-day battery life. It sounds pithy, but calling this “easy” for Apple is actually an understatement: recall how quickly Apple retooled the iPad 2 to release the third-generation iPad, which was a thicker model with a larger battery; it has made smaller housing tweaks just to swap connectors and take fractions of a millimeter off of MacBooks. Just as Apple revealed that there were prototypes of the iPhone 6 in every 0.1″ increment up to over 6″ screens, you can be certain that there are also prototypes with larger batteries. Releasing one of them would hardly be difficult.
Many people — myself included — would have no issue whatsoever if the iPhone 6S was 2-3mm thicker and could last an entire day between charges. Historically, that’s not the way Apple has done things. There could be a 2016 iPhone 7 that was narrower and shorter but a hint thicker, but it’s more likely that there will be a 2015 iPhone 6S with the exact same dimensions outside and a more power-efficient CPU inside.
If that’s true, the next iPhone could jump in claimed run time from 11 to 13+ hours without changing size. Apple’s upcoming A9 chip will reportedly be built on a 14- or 16-nanometer FinFET manufacturing process, which depending on the manufacturer will yield a 20% performance boost/35% power reduction (Samsung 14-nanometer LPE) or 40% performance boost/60% power reduction (TSMC 16-nanometer FinFET Plus). If Apple held performance the same between generations, which it never does, the next iPhone would jump to a nearly 15-hour run time. Similarly, if the chip shrinks — A Samsung-made A9 would, a TSMC-made A9 wouldn’t — there will also be a little extra space inside the iPhone for a slightly larger battery, if Apple wants to improve it.
But the key to an iPhone 6S or 7 with all-day battery life is Apple’s desire to make it happen, and there isn’t much evidence that Cupertino cares; some people would argue that Apple has stretched out battery life gains to incentivize biannual upgrades. Instead, Apple has worked to shave every possible fraction of a millimeter off the iPhone 6, releasing it at 6.9mm versus 7.1mm for the iPhone 6 Plus, a difference no customer would actually care about. Both iPhones were thinned so much that their cameras stick out of their backs and their frames are susceptible to bending near their volume buttons. Apple could kill several birds with one stone by increasing the housing enough to tuck the camera in, reinforce potential bend points, and boost the battery size.
It wouldn’t hurt for Apple to improve the iPhones’ recharging technology at the same time. iPads are already capable of recharging 50-100% faster than iPhones, which still take nearly 2.5 to 3 hours. Adopting a technology akin to Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 2.0 could cut iPhone recharging times in half; numerous competing smartphones have already done this, with great results.
Option 2: Improving Battery Cases
Unless Apple changes its 2015 or 2016 iPhone, our best hope for a superior battery experience is better third-party battery cases. We’ve covered all of the major options for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus in our guide to the best iPhone 6 battery cases, but they’re all extremely similar to one another — nearly impossible to visually tell apart at a distance, and substantially the same in functionality.
What could Apple and the companies improve?
(1) Size. The electronics required to connect the iPhone to the battery are typically housed towards the rear bottom of the case, and add more to the size of the iPhone than anything else. Apart from adopting newer, better battery technology, shrinking this part will have the biggest chance of reducing battery case sizes. A switch to inductive iPhone charging could help, too.
(2) Better case recharging. It’s rare for an iPhone battery case to recharge itself at faster than the 1-Amp speed Apple specifies for iPhones; with 2-Amp support, Lenmar’s Maven is a notable recent exception. If this became more widespread, and Apple allowed the iPhone to charge simultaneously with the case — which it currently does not — recharging times could be substantially reduced.
(3) The Connector. As 9to5Mac previously reported, Apple is planning to let battery case makers include female Lightning connectors instead of micro-USB ports at some point later this year. If this doesn’t make battery cases bigger or more expensive, it will reduce the need to carry multiple cables around, and hopefully also improve…
(4) Dockability and Car Accessory Compatibility. Although docks have declined a lot in popularity over the past few years, it would be great if the same dock could accommodate bare, encased, and battery-encased iPhones. Ditto on car mounts, which are increasingly finding ways to use magnets for convenience, and would be handy to use with battery cases.
(5) Better headphone compatibility. Virtually every iPhone battery case limits access to the headphone port, requiring an adapter. A redesigned, smaller insert could eliminate the dangling cable for users who need headphone port access.
(6) Reusability. Once you upgrade your iPhone, your battery case effectively becomes useless — with different dimensions than your new device, it’s something you’ll have to sell, dispose of, or toss in a drawer. It would be great to have an option to continue to make use of old battery cases in some way.
Note: In an article titled Our One Wish: Longer Battery Life, the Wall Street Journal’s Christopher Mims suggests that “making gadgets” — notably iPhones — “thinner and lighter is a trend that has outlived its usefulness,” as reductions in size and weight are becoming counterproductive to the functionality users need. He predicts that “in the not too distant future, Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook or his equivalents at other phone makers will… tell us the phones they’re offering are, under real-world circumstances, going to last not for hours, but for days.”
What do you think, readers? Should Apple focus on improving the iPhone? Battery case technology? Or neither — is everything good enough for you now as-is? Share your thoughts below!
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Apple’s engineers know what’s best for the batteries, sorry to tell you. The super quick charge has to happen for the iPads because they have enormous batteries, and therefore would take forever to charge if they weren’t far far faster charging. The quicker the charge, the hotter, and worse the battery lifetime. Also, #bendgate? Yes, if you take your fingers and push very hard right where the volume buttons are, pulling with your fingers on both sides of the phone, it will bend. It will also disintegrate if you fire it into the sun. Cameras sticking out of the backs is no problem at all. Yes, it would be better if they were flush, but no, it’s not worth holding the camera back, or keeping the device thickness, over having the camera sticking out less than 1mm. If you have a case over 1mm on your phone and you complain about this, you should seriously see a psychiatrist.
I read a recent article that showed a new battery technology where they could get more battery life from a smaller package, so i’m sure we’ll see better battery life and charging time as things progress. They can only do so much with batteries.
Hail Apple they are all knowing and perfect!
Apple know what they are doing, I agree that there is power issues but I find the iPhone 6 plus is better than most others.
Here is something that everyone should have for their iPhone 6 a full edge to edge screen protector.
http://screenprotectors.co.uk/shop/iphone/iphone-6-curved-screen-tempered-glass-screen-protector/
A couple millimeters thicker for better battery life or a case that makes the phone thicker, wider, longer, heavier, adds more than $100 to the cost and causes more of a hassle to charge and sync?
Really?
A battery case is a cop-out pure and simple. Apple can (and should, IMHO) add a larger battery to the iPhone but the default iOS configuration isn’t very battery friendly either.
I switched to an iPhone in the days of the iPhone 4 because it got much better battery life than the Android phone I had originally purchased. When Ping was released it caused battery life issues but that was one option to disable compared to the several I have to currently disable. I have 45 apps that I have to disable background app refresh on along with things like “frequent locations”, Bluetooth being turned on by default and similar features to get what I consider “good” battery life from my iPhone.
All this is to say that I don’t believe that iOS should get a pass in the battery life discussion by treating this as an either/or discussion.
As a side note: my understanding of the iPhone 6 and 6+ is they are rated to handle the faster recharging rates supplied if users choose to use the iPad charger which means that it is possible but Apple isn’t yet supplying the charger by default that would provide faster iPhone charging times.
The 5s also charges MUCH faster using the higher current chargers. Any decent phone manufacturer will build in any voltage or current regulation the battery may require.
Nope. The 5s charges same on higher current charger. 6 and 6 plus are made to charge faster on an iPad charger. This is not a matter of opinion. It’s simply a fact.
Maybe it’s because my 5s is a year and a half old and the battery is nearing the end of its life, but using a 2.1A charger dramatically shortens the charge time.
That’s placebo.
The iPhone 5s(and earlier iPhones) can only draw 1A even if you charge it with a 2.1A charger.(iPhone 6 and 6 Plus can draw 2.1A because they are designed to do so, iPhone 5s isn’t.)
If you’re still not convinced, buy a Charger Doctor and charge your iPhone 5s with the 2.1A charger through it.
http://www.amazon.com/BESTOPE®-Charger-Doctor-Current-Voltage/dp/B00GC9I61I/
I think pretty much every model of iPhone would charge faster but as far as I know (and I don’t really study this but pick up on this when I read it somewhere) the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6+ are the only ones designed to handle the faster charging rate. I could be wrong.
@eldonchew, it may not all be placebo, there could be a lot of difference between chargers. I see a great deal of difference between a 1A output charger and 2.1A chargers, batteries, USB hubs, and so on and the charging rate of a 5s. I took your advice and ordered a charge doctor. I like being sure about these things and I suspect there will be a good deal of difference between the various charging sources I use, either way I’ll post the results here. Thanks for posting the link for the charge doctor, much appreciated!
Not necessarily placebo, though a 5s will only draw 1 Amp. The problem lies with badly designed USB hubs. I have a 7 port USB 3.0 hub with a huge power brick. I have 3 external drives connected, one of which is externally powered, yet all it feeds my phone is about 450 mA. That’s why charging from my iPad charger is so much faster, it gets the full amp.
The funny thing is that I voted for the first option on an impuls. When I think about it, I do not really need more battery life.
I so use my phone all day and I bought an Mophie Duo a while ago. Until today I never had to use it:
– When I work the phone sits in docking station. So it is allways at 100% when I leave the office.
– When I am out of the office I have to use my car in between meetings. I plug it in since I use it while driving. Again 100% charged when I exit my car.
– On free days I spend most of my time with my kids so it easy lasts a day
More battery life would be nice but I would rather like it that Apple puts the focus on getting out the glitches and just gives me the most stabile phone. Right now I just cannot comprehend that my really really smart phone is not able to register that I am writing in English. Since the language is set to German it tries to correct every word. That is some painfull typing.
If I figured well the complaining, I just think: ‘LOOOL’
Select English language in Settings plz -.-
Settings > General > language and region > language of iPhone > English
You can also change the language that you have downloaded on the keyboard for as long as you write.
I perfectly understand what dvdv0815 means. You know, some of us need to type everyday in at least 3 different languages in order to communicate with different people around the world.
Is the current solution (changing keyboards everytime) unmanagable? No, it isn’t. Still, is it improvable? Indeed.
I think that by now there should be an option by which the system should automatically understand which language you are typing in and honestly, I don’t believe it would be too difficult to implement.
Have you tried Swiftkey yet?
Auto switches between languages and just works great!
Battery at the time falls short…
I don’t handle the iphone 6 or 6 Plus for testing the new battery improvements!
But my iPhone 5S drain the battery to fast for me!
Regular use: I pick up it in the morning (8:30H) and for the 19H is out of battery. This with moderate use. (Use the brightness at 80/100%, wifi and bluetooth connected, use more for sending sms, disconnected data (off generally), without listening to music with the speaker’s phone, without taking pictures or few (<10), without gaming.
I wish that with this regular use (for me), my phone battery lasted until ± 22h.
I don't use cases, only a skin, so battery cases are heavy, bulky, unaesthetic (destroying the phone design!), for me obviously.
I want a thicker phone.
For a better camera. Depth is necessary to create a better camera.
Larger battery would be a bonus for me.
“It wouldn’t hurt for Apple to improve the iPhones’ recharging technology at the same time. iPads are already capable of recharging 50-100% faster than iPhones…”
The charging technology on the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus have already been improved. A 6/6+ will draw 2.1 amps when using a 10 or 12 watt iPad charger. Previous generations were limited to drawing 1 amp, regardless of which charger you used. This results in much faster charging time.
I like having third party cases and battery options. If you barely use your phone then you do not need a battery case. If you are not clumsy, you do not need a protective case. Why make a phone thicker for everyone to cater to these people? Instead make it thin and let people add cases based off their lifestyle. That’s my 2 cents.
Poll is missing another choice. Apple should innovate in the area of batteries and make this a non-issue once and for all.
No one wants to use battery cases
I think it’s insane to even ask this question. If we need another contraption to make the first usable then it’s a complete fail.
I think this article is making some very broad, and from what I have seen, incorrect assumptions.
What about the millions of users that have zero battery issues?
I for one have never had or needed a battery case, and on the very rare occasion my battery iPhone does not make it all day I just charge it.
This article seems much ado about nothing.
Look at the poll. Right now, 93% of responding readers (given the choice to pick “iPhone battery life and battery cases are good enough as-is”) want better battery life – 91% want improvements to the iPhone itself.
Scott is correct in a sense. Less than 2% think the apple battery case is a good idea, quite right – they’re horrible things and Jony Ive would never go there.
Also I clicked ‘improve chips / second option’ – but I’m not complaining about my 6 battery life! All iPhone 6 users would hope for improvements however happy they are with their current device.
Apple always aim for the ‘sweet spot’ of size/function. Look at the first iPod – there were huge devices with large capacity and tiny ones that could store 15 songs, ‘1000 songs in your pocket’ was all about the sweet spot. I feel they do a good job in this regard.
For myself, I easily get through a whole day on a single charge, so I don’t really feel anyone’s pain when they complain about battery life. Then again, most of the complaints about the iPhone I read about online are about things neither I nor anyone I personally know ever experiences. When you sell 70 million devices, the odds of being able to make every last one of those 70 million customers happy are probably stacked way the hell against you and the unhappy people are more likely to sound off than the happy ones.
actually i wounldnt say to thicken the phone for battery life , just stop making it any thinner would be fine
But that’s not their brief! Staying the same isn’t what they do. If they could make a 2mm thick phone that lasts a day, doesn’t break etc, they will! Their brief is to make the coolest, sexiest products that make people excited. As long at the functionality of an apple product is of primary concern, everything will keep getting thinner. And most people will love it.
There are currently more than 60 Smartphones with better battery life than iP6 and iP6+.
Why complaint ? Let Apple do whatever they like, people will keep buying them.
If you are not happy just choose any of those other Phones, problem solved.
But dont take my word for it.
Here is the list with the facts.
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/benchmarks
With things like CarPlay and docks at the office does anyone really need better battery life? Besides maybe a college student who takes the bus and doesn’t get to charge it during the day. For me, if I take my phone off the charger at 7 am and don’t put it back on, with moderate use I have 25% at 7 pm. Which means I have about another 4 hours before it’ll die, so that’d 11pm. I honestly don’t need that much time all that often. Today alone I’ve had multiple chances to put my phone back on the dock and get topped back up but haven’t felt the need to.
I’ve only really run into problems when I’m on vacation because I’m out for 12 to 16 hours at a time and I need my phone for directions and restaurant recommendations, calling a cab and FaceTime-ing home over free hotel Wifi at night.
The 6+ CAN charge using a 2 Amp charger. I charge mine using my iPad charger. It gets a great charge (nearly 100%) in about an hour.
Also, the 6+ definitely lasts all day. I leave the house at about 7 and return at 7,.. and my 6+ usually still has around 15-20% and I’m a heavy user. That isn’t a huge margin left… but it does make it (for comparison my 5S couldn’t do it).
Using the iPad 10w charger, you can fully charge the iPhone 6 Plus in around the same time you could a Qualcomm Quickcharge supported device like the Note 4 or Nexus 6 as this chart from Anandtech proves (the Nexus 6 missing from this chart but measured elsewhere by AT to charge fully in 1.89hrs):
http://imgur.com/X7q3EGw
I’m personally waiting for Mobee’s iPhone 6 induction charging cases because I have a Mobee Magic Feet that induction charges my Mighty Mouse and Wireless Keyboard and there’s enough room to stick an iPhone. I think that’s the best way to go because then I don’t have to worry about plugging in/out the Lightning connector when charging it at home and I have a place reserved.
Anyone that uses a Mouse, Keypad, wireless keyboard should get a Magic Feet. That’s probably the single best accessory I’ve bought for a Mac desktop computer.
How thin can you make a phone before it becomes counterproductive to the overall function of the device? Sacrificing battery life and structural integrity to shave 0.1 or 0.2mm off the device seems ludicrous. Give me a thicker iphone with a battery that actually lasts all day over a thinner one, any day of the week!
Most people walking into an apple store don’t think like that. If they could make a strong 2mm thick device that’s all screen and works beautifully and just about lasts the day, they will. And people will queue up to buy it.
“Hey, this is the iPhone 8 – it’s 10mm thin and lasts 5 days” snooze… not gonna happen is it.
It does not matter how thick and power efficient device is. People will continue complaining about battery. It is never enough.
So the whole questionnaire is kinda dumb
Thought the same thing. That, and who in their right mind doesn’t want a longer lasting battery in their phone?
The is a blatantly silly question.
Exactly. Battery life is low-priorty (i.e., logarithmic curve) on the Kano Model. For these functions, innovations don’t delight, they are never enough. The only way you can delight is if somehow, you get a quantum leap in battery life while not sacrificing anything else.
Do you know what’s awesome for heavy phone users? A replaceable battery. I’m travelling at the moment with a Galaxy Note 4 along with spare battery and charger. I’m never tethered. For example I’m snowboarding all day with the Trace Snow app running to track my day. It uses GPS and trashes the battery. At the end of my day swap the battery out and go out for dinner/drinks straight away with 100% while the other battery is charging back at my room. Sorry to say but the Samsung wall huggers ad is absolutely spot on. I used to travel with an iPhone a while ago and along with the screen size, the battery life took me to the dark side.
Other examples are long plane rides or just heavy use of your phone – camera use etc.
For those of you who don’t struggle with battery life, that’s great! For those who do heavily use their phone away from a wall, a replaceable battery is a God send.
Battery cases – omg. Just a joke. Especially for larger phones. Battery packs aren’t much better. Who wants to be tethered to that?
Don’t expect the battery situation for iPhones to improve for a very long time.
Replaceable batteries are a nice idea, but a nightmare in support, reliability and usability. I’d rather not have another phone that had duct tape as a battery cover. I also tend to lose my spare batteries or not keep them charged (e.g.: my EOS 7D) I’m probably not in the minority here.
Battery case / External battery FTW.
The manufacturer can provide the possibilities and the tools, but they unfortunately can’t be there to help people not be retards. Losing batteries and damaging your phone casing to where you need duct tape… Sounds like you really respect your gear.
Also let me get this straight – spare batteries are no good because you forget to charge them and lose them, but this doesn’t happen to battery cases and external batteries? Add to that the horrible fattening of your phone with battery cases and the fact you have to tether to an external battery? Wow, to each their own and I know people are content with cases and packs but your points are such a logic fail.
Only a subset of people need longer battery life. I use my iPhone 6 Plus all day without a care in the world. Why? Because I don’t play games. My CPU stays on low cycle and I give precisely no sh*ts.
I wager that most people are in this camp, it’s just that you only ever hear complaints, and they invariably come from a small segment of heavy users.
I would tolerate an extra 0.5mm but no more than that. Maybe that would give you an extra hour or two if the entire surface of it went into the battery… but 3mm? Do you know how thick that is?
People like owning sleek fashionable products. The other way to improve battery life is to push game players to other platforms and slow the CPU/GPU down a little. I’d rather have that.
Not long ago, I would have traded a few mm for extra battery life, however, nowadays that I enjoy the amazing battery life from the iPhone 6 Plus, I would definitely not!
I also used to criticize Apple’s emphasis in shoving off every mm the could from their products while choosing this over extra battery life and other potential benefits. While this is undeniable, I have to recognize that shoving off this mm is nice. Not only for design but also for ergonomics and ease of use. So if I’m putting an Apple Leather Case to my iPhone 6 Plus, which I did, then the iPhone better be as thin as possible. Also this size of iPhone wouldn’t be managable without this level of thinness.
Today I can say that I get the better from both worlds with the iPhone 6 Plus: amazing battery life in a 7.1 mm iPhone. Before someones mentions the portruding camera, honestly, I couldn’t care less about it.
Apple could never make a big enough battery for me without seriously sacrificing the profile of the phone.
Skype, Jabber, and Webex over iPhone simply kills battery yet is what my team uses and therefore what I must run to be productive on the go. I have chargers, mounts and docks everywhere and don’t see how 1mm of thinkcness would benefit me. Chasing my needs is not going to be feasible for Apple, and I like iOS and TouchID so I use what works.
My wife sporadically charges her iPhone but doesn’t run it through the ringer like me. She has few issues on battery life.
I find that it’s amazing iOS manages to keep the battery life (for 6 and 6 Plus) competitive with other smartphone as it is. It’s always nice to have the phone last longer than it is, but there are better ways to deal with battery issue than increasing the capacity of the battery. Battery tech hasn’t improve for the last many years and this should be the focus for all manufacturers, not just Apple’s. The LED display on the iPhone is also one of the reasons it’s sucking up battery life as well. If OLED becomes less expensive and actually energy efficient (in theory, but not really IRL), it should help make for a better user experience too. There are many ways to go about this issue. In the end, I think keeping the phone’s thickness around what we have, and improving everything else is what really matters.
I just need a phone to get me through the day, and my iPhone 6 gets through 3 of ’em. I like it thin, light, and balanced.
I’m not sure what all this fuss is about. It’s not like the latest galaxy or nexus phones are getting anything better…
iPhone battery life is good enough. Marginal improvements from new chips will be welcome.
Making the phone thicker and heavier for more battery is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Ok, not as stupid as thinking self-driving cars are happening in this lifetime.
Given that the 6 is too thin and needs a case to feel comfortable in hand (imo), it really wouldn’t hurt the iPhone to put on a little weight.
Apple should just innovate the battery.