Key takeaways:
- The iPhone 17 Professional Max has excellent battery life that simply lasts all day with cost to spare.
- Our unique lab knowledge reveals you need not pay over a grand for glorious battery life. The $829 iPhone 17’s battery lasts simply so long as the $1,099 iPhone 17 Professional.
- The ultrathin iPhone Air, with a modest battery capability, outlasted Samsung’s premium Galaxy S25 telephones.
You would possibly say that battery life is only a small consideration when shopping for a brand new iPhone or Android telephone now, however that stance will get shaky while you’re staring down a sliver of crimson within the battery gauge and have nowhere to plug in. After reviewing smartphones for over a decade, I’ve discovered that longer battery life is the one function individuals constantly need from their telephones.
When Apple launched the brand new iPhone 17 sequence and iPhone Air, it spent appreciable time touting the longer battery lifetime of the iPhone 17, 17 Professional, and 17 Professional Max, as in comparison with their predecessors.
My fellow CNET reviewers and I’ve now had the possibility to check these claims.
When introducing the iPhone Air and its tremendous slim design, Apple confirmed a slide throughout its keynote stating that it has all-day battery life. Nonetheless, the corporate undercut its declare on the subsequent slide when it introduced a brand new MagSafe battery pack designed for the Air, which fed into fears {that a} thinner design would possibly point out a big sacrifice to battery life.
Your telephone’s battery life is affected by a number of variables, like how shiny you retain your show or in case your telephone has a weak sign out of your service. How you utilize your telephone has a big effect, too. Somebody who’s obsessively on-line may have a a lot completely different expertise with their battery life than somebody who has their telephone of their bag at work and checks it on breaks.
So, how have you learnt whether or not the battery life is nice on the iPhone Air and iPhone 17 sequence?
CNET examined the brand new Apple telephones’ battery life 3 ways: via an anecdotal stress check, a video streaming check and observing battery life after on a regular basis use. We additionally examined wired and wi-fi charging. Our lab knowledge confirmed robust battery life for the iPhone 17, 17 Professional, 17 Professional Max and even the Air, particularly in comparison with older iPhone fashions.
Do not miss any of our unbiased tech content material and lab-based evaluations. Add CNET as a most well-liked Google supply.
The iPhone 17 Professional Max has glorious battery life
The iPhone 17 Professional Max runs on Apple’s new A19 Professional chip, which, mixed with a vapor cooling chamber, iOS 26, and a big battery, permits the telephone to final a day on a single cost.
Larger batteries do not at all times imply superior battery life. There’s extra to battery life than the bodily measurement or capability. Apart from Huawei, Apple is the one main smartphone maker that builds its personal {hardware} and software program and might tune its telephones to work off smaller batteries than most Android telephones have.
The iPhone 17 Professional and 17 Professional Max have bigger batteries than final 12 months’s 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max. In the event you’re utilizing an eSIM-only model of both telephone, just like the iPhone fashions offered within the US, your battery is even larger as a result of it takes up the area the place the SIM card tray could be.
Frustratingly, Apple does not share the capability of the iPhone’s batteries, and a part of the reason being that its batteries are sometimes smaller than these in Android telephones. Happily, the EU requires that Apple publish vitality labels that embody the capability of its batteries on its web site. Macrumors discovered the capacities for eSIM-only fashions. You possibly can see how the brand new telephones’ batteries evaluate to those within the iPhone 16 sequence:
- iPhone Air: 3,149 mAh
- iPhone 17: 3,692 mAh
- iPhone 17 Professional: 4,252 mAh
- iPhone 17 Professional Max: 5,088 mAh
- iPhone 16: 3,561 mAh
- iPhone 16 Plus: 4,674 mAh
- iPhone 16 Professional: 3,582 mAh
- iPhone 16 Professional Max: 4,685 mAh
CNET has two benchmark exams (video streaming and stress exams) that enable us to match the battery efficiency of 1 telephone in opposition to one other. And since we have been utilizing these exams for years, we will additionally evaluate a brand new telephone in opposition to older fashions.
For instance, in case you have an iPhone 15 and are contemplating upgrading to an iPhone 17, we will let you know that the brand new iPhone may have an extended battery life out of the field than your outdated one.
In CNET’s 3-hour video battery check, the place we streamed a video over Wi-Fi with the display screen at full brightness, the iPhone 17 sequence did terrific, even when the outcomes weren’t dramatically higher than the iPhone 16 sequence.
With out a Plus mannequin this 12 months, the iPhone 17 Professional Max is the one mannequin with an enormous battery (the largest one ever in an iPhone), and it solely misplaced 9% within the check. The decrease the proportion misplaced, the higher. That is the primary time an iPhone stayed in single digits, and I ought to observe that the 17 Professional Max tied the Motorola Razr (2024) for the very best rating since we have been operating the check. The Razr has a much less highly effective processor and a smaller most important display screen with a decrease decision and fewer brightness.
The iPhone Air and 17 Professional dropped 15% within the check, the identical because the iPhone 15. And the iPhone 17 misplaced solely 11%, higher than the iPhone 15 and 16.
One thing to remember is that the iPhone 17 has a 6.3-inch display screen that helps a 1-120Hz variable refresh price and a max brightness of three,000 nits, in comparison with the iPhone 15 and 16, which have a 6.1-inch show with a 60Hz refresh price and a max brightness of two,000 nits.
Watch this: The iPhone 17 Professional Max Has Unimaginable Battery Life
The brand new Apple telephones did effectively in CNET’s 45-minute endurance check, throughout which I performed video games, streamed movies, scrolled social media and took a video name. The 17 Professional Max solely dropped a single p.c, the very best end result this 12 months, however behind the iPhone 16 Plus, which stayed at 100% (the very best end result for any telephone).
The iPhone 17 and 17 Professional had the identical end result, dropping 2%, making the usual iPhone 17 look much more like an unbelievable worth. The iPhone Air dropped 5%, which matches the iPhone 15 in the identical check. For perspective, the Air did higher on this check than the Samsung Galaxy S25 sequence and tied with the Motorola Razr Extremely.
The iPhone Air will get via a day
The iPhone Air’s skinny design and lightweight weight are its most important appeals. However how a lot battery life might such a skinny telephone have?
After we evaluate telephones, we set them up as our day by day driver to make use of and check them like our private telephones. Actual-world testing is usually the very best indicator of what a reader can count on to get from a telephone.
I began every day with a full battery for the iPhone 17 Professional and 17 Professional Max and tracked how a lot battery I had all through the day. I ended every day with loads of battery left — even after taking pictures pictures and movies or preserving the display screen at full brightness whereas filming the evaluate video. Beneath is a chart that reveals how the iPhone 17 Professional Max’s battery carried out for the primary 5 days I had it.
Equally, CNET senior know-how reporter Abrar Al-Heeti highlights that the iPhone Air she reviewed usually ends the day with about 20% to spare (after beginning with a full battery). She mentioned it might drop beneath 20% on heavier-use days by the point she was prepared for mattress.
“Impressively, the iPhone Air has constantly lasted all day during the last a number of weeks I have been utilizing it,” Al-Heeti mentioned. “However I’ve hardly needed to contact that MagSafe battery pack to increase battery life throughout the day, which is reassuring.”
Apple’s promoting a $99 MagSafe battery accent for the iPhone Air.
In our testing, a fully-charged MagSafe battery added 69% to the iPhone Air’s battery. Once I requested her whether or not she’d advocate individuals purchase the $99 MagSafe Battery for the Air, Al-Heeti mentioned that she recommends it for somebody who makes use of their telephone typically and does not wish to hunt for an outlet.
“I do not like the thought of getting to lug round an additional battery, regardless of how skinny or smooth it’s, so I do not have a tendency to hold it with me until I do know I will have a protracted day away from house,” Al-Heeti mentioned.
Watch this: iPhone Air Evaluation: A Pleasure to Maintain, at a Price
She additionally reviewed the usual iPhone 17 and mentioned it might probably simply final a little bit over a day, even after snapping pictures, scrolling via social media, listening to audiobooks and music, texting and watching movies.
Al-Heeti’s evaluate notes that over a number of days, she’d begin with a full battery, between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m., and have 44% to 47% of a cost 12 hours later. If she did not recharge the iPhone 17 in a single day, she’d nonetheless have about 30% to spare the subsequent morning.
The iPhone 17 sequence costs quick
Listed here are the brand new iPhone fashions (from left to proper): iPhone 17, iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Professional Max and iPhone 17 Professional.
There are two methods to cost an iPhone: with a cable or with MagSafe (until it is the iPhone 16E, which does not have MagSafe, simply Qi charging). For wired charging, Apple recommends utilizing a 40W charger with the iPhone 17, 17 Professional and 17 Professional Max and a 20W charger for the iPhone Air. Nonetheless, Apple does not embody a charger within the field, only a USB-C cable, however the firm does promote a 40W charger for $39 and a 20W charger for $19.
In our 30-minute wired charging check, the brand new telephones, together with the Air, did effectively. The iPhone 17, 17 Professional and 17 Professional Max added 10% or greater than the iPhone 16, 16 Professional and 16 Professional Max in the identical check. Apple says the 17 Professional and 17 Professional Max can recharge to 50% in 20 minutes. In our exams, the iPhone 17 Professional hit 53% and the iPhone 17 Professional Max hit 49% after 20 minutes.
The iPhone Air reached 49% in our 30-minute charging check with a 20W adapter, the identical because the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Professional, beating the iPhone 15 Plus.
In wi-fi charging or MagSafe charging, we ran a 30-minute check with the most recent MagSafe charger and a 30W energy adapter. The iPhone 17 sequence and Air beat each iPhone we have ever examined besides the iPhone 16 Professional, which did higher than the Air and normal iPhone 17. I ought to observe that iPhones do not include a MagSafe charger or 30W adapter within the field.
Which iPhone must you purchase primarily based on CNET Labs knowledge?
Apple’s 2025 lineup is made up of iPhone fashions aimed to enchantment to completely different individuals.
Get the iPhone 17 Professional Max in order for you the very best battery life. The usual iPhone 17 has nice battery life and inches out the dearer iPhone 17 Professional. And if you happen to’re on Staff Air, know that the battery life is not nice, however relying on how onerous you utilize it, you need to get via a day on a single cost.
I also needs to observe that iOS 26 has a brand new Adaptive Energy mode. This function learns your telephone’s use patterns and “adapts” how a lot energy the processor makes use of for particular duties, so it attracts much less from the battery. The brand new function takes every week to start out working. I turned it on after operating CNET’s battery exams and can replace this story with any modifications or enhancements that come from it.
Final, in case you have an iPhone and the one difficulty is that its battery does not cost as a lot because it used to, take into consideration changing it with a brand new one. Doing so won’t solely be a whole lot of {dollars} cheaper than a brand new iPhone, however it might probably lengthen your telephone’s life one other couple of years.