iPhone 12 battery life test results confirm our worst fears

iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro battery life tests are now complete

iPhone 12
(Image credit: Apple)

The iPhone 12 is now a thing and iPhone 12 pre-orders are live, with the first wave of reviewers now posting their opinions on Apple's latest.

One of the lucky few first wave of iPhone 12 reviewers is tech site Tom's Guide, who as part of its testing procedure has conducted battery life tests on both the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro – and, in news T3 is disappointed to hear, the results are not good.

While we're disappointed, we can't say that we're surprised, though. That's because way back in July this year we reported on iPhone 12 battery capacities leaking, and stated that "iPhone 12 battery sizes just leaked and, well, we're worried".

And, judging from the Tom's Guide testing, we were right to worry.

That's because both the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro delivered battery lives that were significantly lower than last year's iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro.

While the iPhone 11 delivered a battery life of 11 hours and 16 minutes, the iPhone 12 (in 4G mode) could only manage 10 hours 23 minutes. When 5G was enabled on the iPhone 12 that lower score then plummeted even further, crashing down to just 8 hours 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, in comparison to the iPhone 11 Pro, which notched a battery life of 10 hours 24 minutes, the iPhone 12 Pro lodged a longer life in 4G mode of 11 hours 24 minutes, but a lower score again when 5G was enabled, falling down to only 9 hours 6 minutes.

The cause of these battery issues? 5G, which has been added to Apple's iPhone 12 range, and is very power hungry.

Thing is, though, 5G is one of the reasons why people are going to upgrade to the iPhone 12, so the fact that its inclusion has meant the phones actually getting downgraded from last year's devices in terms of battery life when used is really disappointing.

As Tom's Guide itself says, "Overall, the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro battery life is a bummer over 5G".

T3 has yet to get chance to test out the iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro's battery life, but be sure to check back in soon for our official results. Here's hoping Tom's Guide test, which is purely based on non-stop web browsing, isn't as bad as it seems.

Robert Jones

Rob has been writing about computing, gaming, mobile, home entertainment technology, toys (specifically Lego and board games), smart home and more for over 15 years. As the editor of PC Gamer, and former Deputy Editor for T3.com, you can find Rob's work in magazines, bookazines and online, as well as on podcasts and videos, too. Outside of his work Rob is passionate about motorbikes, skiing/snowboarding and team sports, with football and cricket his two favourites.