5G drains iPhone 12 battery in more than 20 benchmarks

After the first reviews for the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro came out yesterday, a new report by Tom’s guide Indicates the extent of reduction in battery life when using 5G.

The report outlines a test in which the iPhone constantly surfs the web with a bright knit of 150 Brits, launching a new site every 30 seconds until the battery runs out. Interestingly, this test was run on both iPhone 12 and 12 Pro on both 4G and 5G.

Using the 5G, the iPhone 12: only lasted eight hours and 25 minutes, while the iPhone 12 Pro lasted nine hours and six minutes. When using 4G, the iPhone 12: and 12 Pro perform better for ten hours and 23 minutes and 11 hours and 24 minutes, respectively. This means that the battery life of the iPhone 12: and iPhone 12 Pro is about 20 percent faster when using 5G in this synthetic benchmark.

A similar test result on the iPhone 11 in 2019 resulted in 11 hours and 16 minutes on the 4G, and the iPhone IFA Pro achieved ten hours and 24 minutes.

Tom’s Guide reports that the battery life of 5G Android phones is shortened under the same test:

Compared to the Android competition, Apple’s new phones are one step behind those devices in the list of best devices, especially more than the 5G network.

The battery capacity of the iPhone 12: lineup is believed to have dwindled this year, and while it was known that the 5G would probably draw battery life, the extent of which was unknown.

Battery results may be behind Apple’s move to include “Smart Data Mode” with the iPhone 12: and iPhone 12 Pro Pro, which is selected when it shuts down 5G when it’s not needed. For example, when streaming music with the screen is turned off, smart data mode reportedly turns off 5G and favors 4G instead.

However, users can go further and manually turn off the 5G to speed up battery life on the iPhone 12: and iPhone 12 Pro on. In the settings, users can choose from “5G On,” “5G Auto Toe”, which looks like Apple’s smart data mode and “LTE”.