IPhone 12 Pro Max has a mini battery because of 5G

Apple's new iPhone 12 Pro Max has a smaller battery size than the previous iPhone 11 Pro Max, but that doesn't necessarily mean the battery life is less

The battery capacity of iPhones, as well as many other technical specifications of Apple's smartphones, is always a mystery. The Cupertino company never communicates how much the battery capacity amounts to, simply stating that the iPhone stays on for a few hours in certain usage scenarios. Now, however, we know for sure how big is the battery of the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

The top of the range 2020 Apple, which has the largest battery of all the iPhones presented this year, was in fact disassembled piece by piece and the results of this "teardown" have been published online. The data is clear: iPhone 12 Pro Max has a less capacious battery than its predecessor iPhone 11 Pro Max and, by far, small compared to its main Android competitors. The main reason for the battery reduction from one iPhone generation to another is probably space.

iPhone 12 Pro Max: less battery to make way for 5G

The less space present on the latest iPhone is the one occupied by the components needed to implement the 5G connection, especially the antennas. The large cameras also stole space, forcing Apple to "shrink" the battery.

To be precise, the battery in the new iPhone 12 Pro Max is 3,687 mAh, while the one in the previous iPhone 11 Pro Max was 3,969 mAh.

How much do battery mAh matter

The ironic thing is that the iPhone 12 Pro Max has a smaller battery to make room for 5G, which is a battery-intensive component. But that very fact confirms that battery capacity figures leave a bit to be desired.

The iPhone 12, in fact, incorporates technology that allows it to turn 5G on and off as needed, precisely to save power when the fast connection isn't needed (or isn't there). The iOS 14 operating system, then, adopts some pretty strong solutions for energy saving.

All this confirms that battery capacity is important in a smartphone, but it should always be considered together with software optimization that allows conspicuous energy savings. It's the exact same argument that must be made for the Google Pixel: these smartphones never have a big battery, but they are always very well optimized and offer very good autonomy in all usage scenarios.