Apple may be planning to trade battery capacity for slimness in its next-generation handsets, according to a Monday report from the Far East, with the hotly-anticipated 4.7-inch "iPhone 6" said to pack an 1,800 mAh unit and its 5.5-inch sibling bringing a 2,500 mAh reserve.
If true, the more diminutive device would receive a battery capacity bump significantly larger than the 8 percent jump between the iPhone 5 and the current-generation iPhone 5s, likely attributable to the increased power demands of the larger display. The report was first published by Chinese technology website IT168.
The stated 2,500 mAh capacity of the widely-rumored 5.5-inch "phablet" variant, meanwhile, would be an increase of 60 percent from the iPhone 5s. Despite the seemingly substantial increases, they would place Apple's offerings behind similarly-sized devices from rivals like Samsung and Motorola.
Samsung's flagship Galaxy S5, for instance, sports a 2,800 mAh battery alongside a 5.1-inch display. Motorola's Moto X packs a 2,200 mAh battery with its own 4.7-inch screen.
One reason Apple might consider such a move would be as part of a strategy to slim down the next-generation devices, as larger-capacity batteries bring with them a corresponding increase in size — the Galaxy S5, despite a larger frame in which to place the battery, is still thicker than the iPhone 5s. The Cupertino company could also have designed a much more power-efficient architecture, thanks to their impressive vertical integration, that would allow runtime to remain the same despite the lessened power reserve.
128 Comments
What’s that? A larger phone can have a larger battery? Gee.
Best part is that the A8 won’t compromise power per watt because of it, unlike what other companies would do. Wonder if there’s a portable 802.11ac chip yet…
There is so much wrong with this article. Apple can't be "trading battery capacity for thinness" if the phone itself is actually thinner than last years. And the new phone isn't "diminutive" if it's larger than last years. The batteries are larger because the phones are larger. Add whatever Apple's yearly battery improvement is to that, and you get a longer lasting battery.
Anyone calculate the percentage increase in the screen size difference? Is it comparable to the increase in battery size? I can't find suspected height and width dimensions for the new screen to do the math.
I think the larger iPhone can have a comparable battery life to the iPad. That would be great.
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