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iPhone 17 Air battery leak looks like worst case scenario
Samsung made a splash with the Galaxy S25 Edge earlier this year, but Apple’s rumored to challenge it for the ultra-thin phone throne in fall with its iPhone 17 Air. Too bad it looks like the iPhone maker is skimping on battery capacity to achieve that sleeker profile.
That’s according to well-known tipster Instant Digital, who posted this week on Weibo that the iPhone 17 Air battery “does not exceed 3,000mAh,” as first spotted by 9to5Mac. That’s slightly larger than the 2800mAh battery estimate we heard from another leaker back in May, but it still spells bad news for Apple.
For starters, it would be a serious downgrade compared to the iPhone 16’s 3,651mAh battery, which lasted up to 22 hours on a single charge in our battery tests. For reference, Samsung managed to fit a 3,900mAh battery cell into the S25 Edge, just a smidge smaller than the 4,000mAh battery in the regular Galaxy S25.
That being said, raw specs only tell part of the story. Apple designs its iOS updates with optimization in mind, often managing to wring more battery life than the best Android phones with bigger batteries. (An exciting new feature coming with iOS 26 could give Apple even more of a leg up.)
Look no further than the iPhone 16 lineup, for example. Two of which — the premium iPhone 16 Pro Max and larger iPhone 16 Plus — made our best phone battery life ranking for their surprisingly long charge and considerable upgrade over their predecessors. Instant Digital added that the iPhone’s lower power mode could eke out a bit more battery life, so you might be able to get a full day’s worth of moderate use out of the iPhone 17 Air.
Game-changing iOS 26 battery upgrade up Apple’s sleeve
Notably, Apple’s also improving its iPhones’ power-saving capabilities with a new adaptive power mode introduced in iOS 26. When the setting’s enabled, your phone will use Apple Intelligence to automatically trim its energy use to keep it going longer between charges. That includes things like lowering the screen brightness or restricting app usage from running in the background.
It’s different from the iPhone’s existing low power mode, which restricts background activities and automatically kicks in when your battery reaches 20 percent. Instead, adaptive power mode uses AI to “make small performance adjustments to extend your battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to take a little longer,” according to the full description in the first iOS 26 beta.
Between this new setting and rumors that Apple will employ a new silicon carbon battery to boost battery density by as much as 15%, the iPhone 17 Air’s battery capacity could last surprisingly longer in practice than its raw specs would suggest.
iPhone 17 Air vs. Galaxy S25 Edge: Who will win?
Samsung made quite the impression with the Galaxy S25 Edge earlier this year, which packs all the same Galaxy AI features you’d expect from the phone maker’s premium headsets into a ridiculously thin footprint.
One of its biggest compromises is its slightly smaller battery than the rest of the Galaxy S25 line, but even at 3,900mAh, that still blows the iPhone 17 Air’s rumored sub-3,000mAh capacity out of the water.
In our Galaxy S25 Edge battery tests, Samsung’s super-thin phone lasted 12 hours and 28 minutes on a single charge. That’s far below the average of the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which goes the distance with 17 hours and 14 minutes running the same tests. Even the standard Galaxy S25 managed to outlast the Edge by almost 3 hours.
Whether the thin profile is worth the tradeoff in battery will be a matter of preference for most buyers. Me? I’d rather have a longer-lasting phone than even the thinnest one I can’t use without lugging around one of the best portable battery banks as a backup. That could make the iPhone 17 Air a tough sell unless Apple can demonstrate how users can wring a full day’s worth of usage out of their iPhone.
