Battery life might be the iPhone 18 Pro’s sleeper feature.
When Apple announced the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max, the phones were instantly overshadowed by their new sibling, the iPhone Duo, which has a passport-size design with a tiny iPad-like folding screen. That doesn’t mean that Apple’s latest pro phones don’t have their own appeal.
On paper, the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max’s marquee features are the new variable aperture and the addition of manual controls in the Camera app, aimed at the niche audience of professional photographers and creative types. But my testing found that the phone’s battery upgrades should appeal to everyone. That’s in part because the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max have larger batteries than their 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max counterparts, as revealed in a teardown by the tech repair site iFixIt.
Beyond the increased battery capacity, the 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max have the power-efficient A20 Pro chip and run on iOS 27, which has several behind-the-scenes improvements to reduce power consumption. At a time when companies, including Apple, are raising phone prices – the 18 Pro starts at $1,199 and 18 Pro Max at $1,299 – it’s reassuring to see that the new Pro models are more than just a yearly iteration and improve on the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max’s fast charging and long battery life.
How do they compare to the iPhone 17, iPhone Air and older iPhone models?
CNET tested the Apple phones’ four ways to find out: a battery stress test, a video streaming battery test, a wired charging test and a wireless charging test. These results, along with our lab data from previous years, show that the iPhone 18 Pro Max has the longest-lasting battery life of any phone Apple has ever made. The smaller iPhone 18 Pro is the fastest-charging iPhone. The performance of both phones in my testing and review is why each has earned a CNET Editors’ Choice Award.
Key takeaways
- Lab testing across video streaming and battery stress tests shows that the 18 Pro Max delivers the longest overall battery life of any iPhone to date, driven by a larger battery capacity and the power-efficient A20 Pro chip and iOS 27.
- The 18 Pro is Apple’s fastest-charging phone, reaching 53% battery in 15 minutes and 82% in 30 minutes.
- Despite being a prior-generation model, the iPhone 16 Plus still holds the best score in the 45-minute multitasking battery stress test, edging out both the 17 Pro Max and 18 Pro Max by 1 percentage point.
The iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max have an incredible battery life
CNET has two battery benchmark tests (video streaming and stress tests) to rate battery performance. We averaged the scores from both tests for each phone to determine the final ranking. If you’re looking for a phone with the longest battery life between charges, get an iPhone 18 Pro Max, which came out on top.
Because we’ve used these tests for years, we can compare new iPhones against older models. If you have an iPhone 15 or 16, upgrading to an iPhone 17 will get you a noticeably longer battery life out of the box. Keep in mind that display brightness, the strength of your carrier’s signal and how you use your phone all have a tremendous impact on the battery life you get from any phone. If you’re someone who is obsessively online, a phone with an incredible battery life might not be enough for you. Obviously, battery life isn’t the only consideration when shopping for a new phone, and normally, I’d recommend holding onto your phone for 3 to 4 years if possible.
In CNET’s 3-hour video battery test, where we streamed a video over Wi-Fi with the screen at full brightness, the iPhone 18 Pro had the highest remaining charge. What’s notable is how it did compared with the iPhone 17 Pro, which lost 8% more in the same test. That’s quite the improvement in just a single year. The $929 iPhone 17, $270 less than the 18 Pro, might be the most surprising result, placing fourth in the test. It proves you don’t need to buy a $1,300 phone to get great battery life.
The iPhone 18 Pro Max landed second in the 3-hour streaming video test.
In CNET’s 45-minute battery stress test, during which I played games, streamed videos, scrolled social media and took a video call with the screen at half brightness, 2024’s iPhone 16 Plus still holds the best result. The 18 Pro Max and 17 Pro Max placed second, just a single percent behind the 16 Plus. The iPhone 17 lands in the third spot, again an impressive result that shows that the standard model will be more than enough for most people, even a year after it came out. The iPhone 18 Pro placed last in this test, but keep in mind that its result was better than many Android phones, such as the Pixel 11 Pro and Galaxy S26.
Looking at our results, the iPhone 17 Pro Max and 18 Pro Max are nearly identical in battery life, even though the new phone scored a percentage point higher in one test. So if you’re able to get a deal on the 17 Pro Max, Apple stopped selling it, save money, go for it.
The iPhone 18 Pro is the fastest charging iPhone
At some point, you’re going to need to recharge your iPhone’s battery and one discovery I had from testing was just how much Apple improved wired charging on both the new Pro models. We have two charging tests (wired and wireless) to rate recharging performance. As with our battery tests, we averaged the scores from the two tests to determine the final ranking. If you want the fastest-charging Apple phone, then buy an iPhone 18 Pro.
In our 30-minute wired charging test, starting with the battery at 0% and charging with the included cable, the iPhone 18 Pro added 82%, reaching 53% after 15 minutes. Compare that with the iPhone 17 Pro, which saw a 74% increase in the same test. That’s an 8% gain between model years and a wild improvement!
So why the big difference here? The iPhone 17 Pro supports 40-watt fast charging, whereas the iPhone 18 Pro supports 60-watt fast charging. Both require using or purchasing a wall plug that supports those speeds.
The 18 Pro Max added 77% in the same 30-minute test and hit 48% at the 15-minute mark. This is another 8% improvement from last year – the 17 Pro Max gained 69%.
Again, the notable performance came from the iPhone 17, which recharged its battery from empty to 69%, matching the 17 Pro Max.
The iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max support 25-watt Qi2.2 wireless charging via MagSafe, like the 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max. In our 30-minute wireless charging test, the 17 Pro beat the new 18 Pro by just a single percent. The 18 Pro Max placed just after the iPhone Air in the same test. Keep in mind that the 18 Pro Max has the largest battery capacity of any iPhone we tested. Though the 17 Pro Max has a large battery, too, it came in third for this test.
The iPhone Duo and final thoughts
Apple will release the iPhone Duo on Oct. 23. We are excited to test its battery and charging capabilities, but at this time, we’ve only had brief hands-on time with the foldable phone at Apple’s event last month.
While battery life and charging speeds are not the primary reasons to choose one iPhone over another, they are among the most important considerations. Out of Apple’s current lineup, the iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max will give you the most battery life. But I think most people will be fine with the standard iPhone 17. Think of it as getting the most battery life for your dollar.
The iPhone Air is Apple’s slimmest phone (until the Duo goes on sale), but still has a good battery life despite its petite proportions. And while the iPhone 17E is Apple’s most affordable phone, it has a battery life that beats out most of the older iPhone models that we tested.
Lastly, if the poor battery health on your current iPhone is making you want to upgrade, it’s worth considering a battery replacement. It’ll cost you $50 to $130, depending on which model you have; even less if you replace it yourself. Doing so will add a couple more years to your phone’s longevity and save you hundreds of dollars.
Patrick Holland
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