iPhone 16 Pro Max battery life will shock you — does it ever die?
The iPhone 16 Pro Max was like the Energizer Bunny on our battery life test. It just kept going, and going, and going.
The flagship Apple device knocked the Google Pixel 9 off its throne, the former reigning battery life champion.
The Pixel 9 lasted over 19 hours — 19 hours and 20 minutes, to be exact — on a single charge, which is impressively long. However, as it turns out, the iPhone 16 Pro Max is even more power-efficient than the Google entry-level model.
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iPhone 16 Pro Max battery life
On our TikTok rundown battery test, which loops a continuous video until it dies with the display at 50% of brightness, the iPhone 16 Pro Max ran out of juice after 25 hours and 17 minutes.
As a seasoned tech reviewer, I've seen mobile manufacturers claim that their products have "all-day battery life," but when I test them myself, the reality is that they have half-day battery life, conking out after just a few hours.
However, Apple can actually say that the iPhone 16 Pro Max is capable of surviving for more than a day.
Based on typical usage, which includes internet surfing, streaming, and some idle time, you could probably get away with not charging the iPhone 16 Pro Max for about two days before you need to juice up again.
Curious to see the battery runtimes of other smartphones we've tested? Here's a quick list:
Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra - 13 hours and 1 minute
iPhone 16 - 16 hours and 20 minutes
iPhone 16 Pro - 18 hours and 17 minutes
Google Pixel 9 Pro XL - 18 hours and 50 minutes
iPhone 16 Plus - 18 hours and 53 minutes
Google Pixel 9 - 19 hours and 20 minutes
iPhone 16 Pro Max - 25 hours and 17 minutes
At the Sept. 9 "Glowtime" event, where Apple unveiled the new iPhone 16 lineup, the Cupertino-based tech giant boasted that the iPhone 16 Pro Max has the "best iPhone battery life ever" — and the company was right.
The iPhone 16 Plus took third place with a runtime of 18 hours and 53 minutes, beating the Pixel 9 Pro XL by a hair (i.e., three minutes). The Google Pixel 9 Pro XL is now in fourth place.
The iPhone 16 Pro Max has a starting price of $1,199 — and it's available for pre-order now.
UPDATE: Sep. 18, 2024, 11:29 a.m. EDT This piece was updated with the Google Pixel 9's incredible battery life score of 19 hours and 20 minutes.
Kimberly Gedeon, at Mashable since 2023, is a tech explorer who enjoys doing deep dives into the most popular gadgets, from the latest iPhones to the most immersive VR headsets. She's drawn to strange, avant-garde, bizarre tech, whether it's a 3D laptop, a gaming rig that can transform into a briefcase, or smart glasses that can capture video. Her journalism career kicked off about a decade ago at MadameNoire where she covered tech and business before landing as a tech editor at Laptop Mag in 2020.
