Apple added considerably bigger batteries to its iPhone 16 range

The iPhone 16 family has much bigger batteries than its predecessor, with the iPhone 16 Pro growing by almost 10% versus the iPhone 15 Pro.

Apple's update to the iPhone 16 included a boost to battery life, adding a few more hours to each model. It appears that the improvements were due to having larger battery capacities in all of them.

In certification documents from Brazilian regulator Anatel spotted by Blogdoiphone, the capacities of the iPhone 16 device family have been revealed. In all four cases, the capacities have gone up.

The iPhone 15 generation had battery capacities of:

iPhone 15 - 3,349mAh
iPhone 15 Plus - 4,383mAh
iPhone 15 Pro - 3,274mAh
iPhone 15 Pro Max - 4,422mAh

For the iPhone 16, the capacities have gone up by about 6% for three models. The exception is the iPhone 16 Pro, seeing a gain of 9.4% on the iPhone 15 Pro:

iPhone 16 - 3,561mAh
iPhone 16 Plus - 4,674mAh
iPhone 16 Pro - 3,582mAh
iPhone 16 Pro Max - 4,685mAh

Apple doesn't directly disclose battery capacities for its models, but it does offer how many hours each should last in use.

Bar chart comparing iPhone battery capacities in mAh for iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, including Standard, Plus, Pro, and Pro Max models.

Battery capacity comparisons between the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 generations

For example, it said the iPhone 15 could manage up to 20 hours of local video playback, which rose to 22 hours in the iPhone 16. For the largest models, the iPhone 15 Pro Max lasts for up to 29 hours, while the iPhone 16 Pro Max manages up to 33 hours.

While Apple can boast about performance improvements and energy savings in its annual iPhone updates, upscaling the physical battery also helps tremendously.