iPhone 17 Air battery leak looks like worst case scenario
That's according to well-known tipster Instant Digital, who posted this week on Weibo that the iPhone 17 Air battery "does not exceed 3,000mAh," as first spotted by 9to5Mac. That's slightly larger than the 2800mAh battery estimate we heard from another leaker back in May, but it still spells bad news for Apple.
For starters, it would be a serious downgrade compared to the iPhone 16's 3,651mAh battery, which lasted up to 22 hours on a single charge in our battery tests. For reference, Samsung managed to fit a 3,900mAh battery cell into the S25 Edge, just a smidge smaller than the 4,000mAh battery in the regular Galaxy S25.
That being said, raw specs only tell part of the story. Apple designs its iOS updates with optimization in mind, often managing to wring more battery life than the best Android phones with bigger batteries.
Look no further than the iPhone 16 lineup. Two of which — premium iPhone 16 Pro Max and larger iPhone 16 Plus — made our best phone battery life ranking for their surprisingly long charge and considerable boost over their predecessors. Instant Digital added that the iPhone's lower power mode could eke out a bit more battery life, so you might be able to get a full day's worth of moderate use out of the iPhone 17 Air.
Notably, Apple's also improving its iPhones' power-saving capabilities with a new adaptive power mode introduced in iOS 26. When the setting's enabled, your phone will use Apple Intelligence to automatically trim its energy use to keep it going longer between charges. So that could make the iPhone 17 Air last even longer.
Samsung made quite the impression with the Galaxy S25 Edge earlier this year, which packs all the same Galaxy AI features you'd expect from the phone maker's premium headsets into a ridiculously thin footprint. One of its biggest compromises is its slightly smaller battery than the rest of the Galaxy S25 line, but even at 3,900mAh, that still blows the iPhone 17 Air's rumored sub-3,000mAh capacity out of the water.
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
In our Galaxy S25 Edge battery tests, Samsung's super-thin phone lasted 12 hours and 28 minutes on a single charge. That's far below the average of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which goes the distance with 17 hours and 14 minutes running the same tests. Even the standard Galaxy S25 managed to outlast the Edge by almost 3 hours.
Whether the thin profile is worth the tradeoff in battery will be a matter of preference for most buyers. Me? I'd rather have a longer-lasting phone than even the thinnest one I can't use without lugging around one of the best portable battery banks as a backup. That could make the iPhone 17 Air a tough sell unless Apple can demonstrate how users can wring a full day's worth of usage out of their iPhone.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Tom's Guide
5 minutes ago
- Tom's Guide
You can turn off Galaxy AI on your Samsung phone — here's how
Samsung's Galaxy AI is everywhere on your phone, integrated into apps and features throughout your device. While these AI tools can be helpful, you might find them intrusive, worry about privacy, or simply prefer doing things without AI assistance. Fortunately Samsung gives you control over Galaxy AI. You can turn off specific features you don't want, switch to on-device processing for better privacy, or disable artificial intelligence altogether. Whether you're concerned about your data being sent to Samsung's servers or just find the constant AI suggestions annoying, you can customize exactly how much Galaxy AI you want on your device. Here's how. Open Settings on your Samsung Galaxy phone, then tap Galaxy AI. This brings up a comprehensive list of every AI feature currently active on your device, and you might be surprised by how many there are. This central hub makes it easy to see exactly what Galaxy AI is doing on your phone and gives you one place to manage all the artificial intelligence features. Tap on any Galaxy AI feature in the list to see its specific settings. Each feature has its own toggle switch that lets you turn it on or off completely. Some features, like Photo assist, actually contain multiple sub-features, so you might see Generative edit, Sketch to image, and Portrait studio all grouped together. Use the main toggle switch at the top to disable the entire feature group, or scroll down to turn off individual tools within that category. If you have a Galaxy S25 phone, scroll to the bottom of the Galaxy AI settings and look for Process data only on device. Flip this toggle switch on to keep your AI processing local instead of sending data to Samsung's servers. When you enable on-device processing, some features will become unavailable or more limited. For instance, translation tools will support fewer languages because they're relying on local files instead of cloud databases. You'll see warnings about which features won't work when you make this change. To turn off Galaxy AI entirely, go through each feature in the Galaxy AI settings menu and turn off every toggle switch. here isn't a single disable all AI button, so you'll need to work through the list systematically. Tap each feature, then turn off its main toggle switch. Once you've disabled everything, Galaxy AI will stop analyzing your data, making suggestions, or offering AI-powered tools anywhere in your phone's interface. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
Axios
2 hours ago
- Axios
Musk announces Tesla, Samsung Electronics chip supply deal
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said late Sunday the automaker has signed a deal to obtain semiconductor chips from Samsung Electronics. The big picture: Samsung had announced Saturday that it had struck a $16.5 billion supply agreement, but it didn't name the company. The announcement comes after Samsung, one of the world's largest memory chip makers, acknowledged last year that it had fallen behind in the AI chips war. Driving the news: "Samsung's giant new Texas fab will be dedicated to making Tesla's next-generation AI6 chip. The strategic importance of this is hard to overstate," Musk wrote on his platform X. "Samsung currently makes AI4. TSMC will make AI5, which just finished design, initially in Taiwan and then Arizona," Musk added. "Samsung agreed to allow Tesla to assist in maximizing manufacturing efficiency. This is a critical point, as I will walk the line personally to accelerate the pace of progress. And the fab is conveniently located not far from my house."
Tom's Guide
2 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
I recently got hacked — here's 5 hidden Apple security features I wish I'd known about
It wasn't until I was hacked that I stopped to think about just how much data I was carrying around in my pocket. My iPhone doesn't just have logins to all my banking apps; it has photos of my baby's face, details of his childcare, and, thanks to my Apple Watch, the Health app has more information than my doctor does on what's happening in my body. I was bathing my baby when the scammers called, pretending to be from the payment app, Klarna. They told me my account had been compromised, and that they were sending a code to my phone and my email address, and could I read them these codes. Despite working for one of the largest tech sites in the U.S., I was sleep-deprived and distracted, and I did exactly what they asked. An hour later, I realized what I'd done, with hundreds of dollars worth of transactions appearing on my app. Of course, it eventually got sorted, and I didn't lose any money, but I was left feeling vulnerable and violated. I felt extremely foolish to have fallen for it, but more than that, I'm now fearful each time an unknown number calls. I won't answer calls from numbers I don't know when looking after my toddler, and I no longer trust payback sites like Klarna. It's also made me more aware of the security features right there on my iPhone. Here are five features I wish I'd known about sooner: A hugely useful feature, coming in the iOS 26 software update this fall, is Apple's new scam call screening. When turned on, this feature will answer calls from unknown numbers for you, and ask the caller for their name and the reason for their call before putting them through to you. If it's a machine-recorded scammer, it'll probably hang up anyway, but if it is a legit caller, their answers are converted into text and displayed on your iPhone screen. It's an extra barrier between you and a potential scammer, and gives you a second to consider the information on your phone screen before picking up. Ok, so this won't protect you from hackers calling, but it will come in handy if your phone is stolen when you're out of the house. When turned on (to find Stolen Device Protection, head to Settings, Privacy & Security, and scroll down to Stolen Device Protection, then toggle it on), there's an extra layer of protection, even if someone knows your passcode. When your iPhone is away from familiar locations, like your home or workplace, you'll have to wait an hour to perform some security actions, such as changing your Apple ID password. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. You'll also have to use Face ID or Touch ID to complete actions like accessing stored passwords (more on that below) and using credit cards. The passcode alternative will be disabled. According to Apple, Face ID is the most secure facial authentication in any smartphone. It uses the TrueDepth camera system to project over 30,000 invisible infrared dots onto your face, creating a 3D map. The probability that a random person could look at your iPhone and unlock it is less than 1 in 1,000,000. My son's daycare app is now password-protected, so that if someone did steal my phone, they couldn't find sensitive information about him. When an app is locked, you need to use your Face ID, Touch ID, or passcode to open it. To lock an app, simply locate the app you want to lock on your home screen and touch and hold down on the app icon until the quick menu options appear. From here, tap Require Face ID (or Touch ID or passcode), and then authenticate. Once enabled, when you click to open the app, you'll need to use Face ID or your password to open it. You can remove this at any time by repeating the process and selecting Don't Require Face ID. If an app has sensitive information, you can also choose to hide it from your home screen entirely. To hide an app, select the app from your home screen and hold down on the icon until the quick menu options appear. Tap Hide and Require Face ID, and then authenticate using Face ID (or Touch ID and a passcode), then tap Hide App. Read more about how to hide apps on your iPhone here. Again, this one would not have saved me from the hackers, but it's a feature worth mentioning if, like me, you're fed up with being targeted by ads online. Plus, it can also prevent your data from being shared or sold to third-party companies without your consent, as well as your browsing behaviour and interests from being monitored. When browsing on Safari on your iPhone, it uses Intelligent Tracking Prevention, which uses machine learning to identify and stop known trackers. It's automatically turned on, and at any time, you can click on the menu icon on your internet browser, and see a Privacy Report to see which trackers are being blocked. It's also hiding your IP address from trackers. Last, but by no means least, it wasn't until I was hacked that I realized I'd made the obvious mistake of using the same password for pretty much everything. The Passwords app on iPhone has since helped me keep my passwords and verification codes in one place. Not only does it generate, create, and save passwords for me, but it also tells me if it thinks my passwords might not be secure. After the hack, I had to painstakingly change my passwords, but now I tend to allow my iPhone to create strong passwords for me. They're far more secure than anything I can think up (and remember), and they sync to my other Apple devices. In today's digital world, your data is a prime target. Learning how to leverage your iPhone's built-in security features isn't just smart — it's crucial to keeping your personal information locked down and preventing cyberattacks. Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
