iPhone users know that, at least in the past, their devices tend to last for fewer hours on a single charge. After reports emerged that Apple was then limiting performance to preserve this battery life, they changed that.
But that doesn't mean the batteries themselves have improved.
A recent survey by UK-based consumer advocacy group 'Which?' tested nine different iPhones in the Apple stable. And, unfortunately, it seems all of them fell short of Apple's battery life claims.
According to the report, the worst offender this way was the iPhone XR, which displayed the "biggest battery overestimation for talk time on full charge". The iPhone XR reportedly lasted for 16 hours and 32 minutes, whereas Apple claimed that it would deliver closer to 25 hours - that's only about 66 percent of the promised battery life
Worse is that Apple is only one of two companies delivering less-than-promised battery life. The Which? survey tested 90 smartphone models across five brands, Apple, HTC, Nokia, Samsung and Sony. Of those, only Apple and HTC were found to be fudging battery life stats.
Apple however insists on refuting those claims, saying its batteries last between 18 to 51 percent longer than the survey results.
"We rigorously test our products and stand behind our battery life claims," the company said in a statement. "With tight integration between hardware and software, iPhone is engineered to intelligently manage power usage to maximize battery life. Our testing methodology reflects that intelligence. Which? haven't shared their methodology with us so we can't compare their results to ours. We share our methodology for testing which we publish in detail here."
Other brands in the survey in fact tended to outperform the results, with Sony being the outright winner, outperforming by about 21 percent.
Natalie Hitchins, Head of Home Products and Services for Which?, said, "With mobile phones now an essential part of everyday life, we should be able to count on our handsets living up to the manufacturer's claims. There are clearly questions here around how long some mobile phone batteries will last and so it's important to make sure you find an independent source of reliable information when buying your next phone."