A new iPhone 18 Pro Max leak claims that will see the smallest year-over-year battery capacity increase in years, although the final use figures depends more on the power efficiency of the A20 processor.
Recent rumors have claimed that the expected iPhone Fold will have the largest-capacity battery the iPhone has ever had. But dubious leaks specifying a capacity figure claim it will be a 5,000mAh battery, and now the iPhone 18 Pro Max will reportedly beat it.
That's according to leaker Digital Chat Station on Chinese social media site Weibo. He or she states that there will again be two models of the highest-end iPhone, with different battery capacities:
- iPhone 18 Pro Max (China): 5,000mAh
- iPhone 18 Pro Max (USA): 5,100-5,200mAh
The reason for the difference is that the US model uses only an eSIM, while China still prefers physical SIM cards. The mechanism for those takes up room in the iPhone that would otherwise be used for the battery.
This does suggest that China will continue to require physical SIM cards. That's despite the country's regulators eventually agreeing to the eSIM-only iPhone Air.
Note that Apple does not specify battery capacity, other than to quote how many hours of average use it will provide. But based on regulatory filings, the iPhone 17 Pro Max battery capacity is officially:
- iPhone 17 Pro Max (China): 4,823mAh
- iPhone 17 Pro Max (USA): 5,088mAh
That 5,088mAh for the iPhone 17 Pro battery in the US was about an 8.6% improvement on the previous model. Then, too, the iPhone 16 Pro Max got a 5.9% improvement over the battery from the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
In real-world use, the improvement between the iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone 16 Pro amounted to an increase of just over four hours.
Battery life depends on usage, and the A20 processor in the iPhone 18 Pro Max is expected to improve on power efficiency. Just based on capacity figures alone, though, the iPhone 18 Pro Max looks to get at most a 2.2% increase.
Note that Digital Chat Station has only a sporadic track record. The leaker's most recent claim also concerns the iPhone 18 Pro, and says that there will be few external differences to its predecessor.
