A new leak suggests that this fall’s Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max will have a bigger-capacity battery than any iPhone has ever seen. More details have now emerged as to what this will mean, updated on July 6 with further details and commentary on the thicker design and possible battery size increase.
A Bigger Battery
According to a leak from Weibo user Instant Digital, the iPhone 17 Pro Max battery could be as big as around 5,000mAh, which is bigger than the current largest iPhone battery, in the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which measures 4,676mAh. This points to a significant boost in longevity.
A Thicker Design for Longer Life
It’s long been rumored that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will be thicker than before, and it’s been hoped that some of this extra space would be used to increase the battery size. The iPhone 16 Pro Max is 8.25mm thick, and it’s thought its successor will be 8.725mm thick. Even such a slender increase could have a noticeable effect on the iPhone’s battery life.
"Depending on how close to 5,000 the final number ends up being, we could be looking at almost a 10% increase in capacity. It’s important to note, however, that a battery’s capacity doesn’t have a 1:1 correlation with battery life improvements." - 9to5Mac
Meanwhile, MacRumors suggests what it might mean. “The battery life of the iPhone 16 Pro Max is 33 hours, according to Apple. With an extra 300mAh of battery capacity, the iPhone 17 Pro Max could be on course to offer around 35 hours of battery life, or perhaps even more.”