AP
Apple CEO Tim Cook won't be happy.
Which? published the results of a test into the iPhone 7's call time and internet usage time, and it found that the phone performed worse than the Samsung Galaxy S7, the LG G5, and the HTC 10.
It tested the phones using a phone network simulator, a 3G call, and a web page that continually refreshes.
The iPhone 7 lagged far behind the Android phones on the 3G call time test. It only managed 712 minutes, compared to 1859 minutes for the HTC 10 and 1759 and 1492 minutes for the LG G5 and Samsung Galaxy S7 respectively.
It also lagged behind the Android phones for internet usage, but it was nowhere near as dramatic. The results are pretty shocking, but they don't tell the whole story:
The iPhone 7's battery is still an improvement over the battery found in the iPhone 6 and 6s. But Apple is getting a whirlwind of negative press coverage for its batteries. "The iPhone 7 has worse battery life than HTC 10, Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5," says Betanews. "The iPhone 7 has the worst battery life compared to competition," says Inquisitr. And Geek.com says, "iPhone 7 comes last in battery testing."
The Guardian also claimed the iPhone 7 has a small battery. The headline for its review of the phone reads "how good can a phone be if the battery doesn't last even a day?" It even claimed that "the iPhone 7 has worse battery life than the iPhone 6S when new."
That's a surprising claim. Which?'s testing and Apple's own product specifications show that the iPhone 7 has a higher-capacity battery than the iPhone 6s. The iPhone 7 has a 1,960mAh, while the iPhone 6s had a 1,810mAh battery. It's not a huge leap, but it is indeed bigger. A larger battery doesn't necessarily mean longer life. How efficiently the phone's hardware and software use power is also a factor. But generally, the bigger the battery the more life you can pack into it.
The rumours of battery problems with the iPhone 7 are going to hurt Apple, even if they're not true. Bank of America Merrill Lynch conducted a survey of US consumers and found that longer battery life was a reason cited by 65% of consumers for upgrading to the iPhone 7, ahead of the phone being waterproof (59%) and improved camera quality (54%).