iPhone 16 tipped for bigger batteries – except for the iPhone 16 Plus

Apple's iPhone 16 will be getting a significant battery boost over the iPhone 15 range, a new report says. The iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus and iPhone 16 Pro Max are all tipped to get different batteries than the current models; the iPhone 16 Pro hasn't been included in the report but it seems unlikely that that model won't be invited to the better-battery party too.

The current iPhone lineup has a 3,349 mAh battery for the standard iPhone 15, a 4,383 mAh one in the iPhone 15 Plus and a 4,422 mAh battery in the iPhone 15 Pro Max. According to a new post by tipster Majin Bu, both the standard and Pro Max iPhones will get a bigger battery boost that takes them to 3,561 mAh and 4,676 mAh respectively – an increase of 6% and 5%.

However, the post also suggests that the iPhone 16 Plus battery will be smaller: down to 4,006 mAh, a reduction of 9%. That seems odd given that one of the big selling points of the iPhone 15 Plus, and a key plank of its current marketing campaign, is its battery life. 

Can we believe this iPhone battery rumour?

This wouldn't be the first time Apple has made the battery smaller in a new iPhone: the iPhone 15 Pro Max battery has less capacity than the iPhone 14 Pro Max, which had 4,323 mAh compared to the current model's 4,422 mAh. 

According to Majin Bu, the changes are because Apple is using differently sized and shaped batteries this time around. The information they have been given says that the battery in the iPhone 15 Pro Max is currently L-shaped but the new one is rectangular; the standard iPhone 15 battery is already rectangular but will get significantly wider for the iPhone 16; and the iPhone 16 Plus battery will be the same shape as before but somewhat narrower. 

If these details are correct – and it's possible that the information the tipster has received is from prototypes that may since have been changed – then the changes would also address one of the oddities of the current iPhone 15 line-up: the £899 iPhone 15 Plus has a bigger battery than the £1,199 iPhone 15 Pro Max. With the reported changes the Pro Max would become the iPhone with the biggest battery as well as the biggest price tag.