iPhone 13 battery rumour is potentially very good news

Virtually every iPhone user survey that pops up contains the nugget of information that owners would really like better batteries. And, for sure, Apple could make the battery in the iPhone a little bigger, even if that would make the device larger, and it would win them some happy customers. So a rumour that implies there could be better battery life in the iPhone 13  is always welcome. 

And a rumour we have, this time reported by MacRumors from Max Weinback, suggests that a significant battery boost is coming. That will add both thickness and weight to the range, but will boost the available power considerably, if this rumour is correct. The iPhone 13 Mini will see an extra hour of use, but the story for the iPhone 13 Pro Max might be different. That’s because they are rumoured to be fitted with 120Hz displays, which will consume more power. 

The tweeted rumours also suggest that the iPhone 13 Pro Max will both switch off the 120Hz display mode, and revert to 60Hz when the battery saving mode is engaged. This seems sensible, it’s not clear if people can just switch off the 120Hz mode altogether if they just want a beefier battery. It seems like the expectation is that the iPhone 13 Pro will not have a 120Hz display. 

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The iPhone 13 Pro Max is said to feature a battery which is 18-20% larger, which could have a big impact on how long it lasts, even with the extra juice needed to operate that screen. This is interesting, as it suggest that the gap between the Pro and the Pro Max might be widening slightly. It’s potentially concerning that the Max will get extra features,  given some people will naturally prefer a slightly smaller device like the Pro.

There are also continuing rumours that the price will not increase for the new devices. We reported on this a while back and it does fit with the claim that TSMC wasn’t increasing prices for Apple as it was for other companies. That might be down to the amount of TSMC’s capacity Apple uses, which is said to be 50% of all its 5nm chip production. 

With all that said, MacRumors is at pains to point out that Weinbach has a very mixed record of getting rumours right. Last year he made similar claims about a number of features which then did not prove to be correct. 

Either way, we’ll know for sure tomorrow. Stay tuned for T3’s coverage of the Apple Event.