The iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are beginning to get into the hands of reviewers, and a new report by Tom’s Guide gives us an idea of how much 5G data usage reduces battery life compared to 4G.
The site conducted a test where the iPhone surfs the web continuously at 150 nits of screen brightness. In the test, a new site was launched every 30 seconds until the battery drained. The test was performed on an iPhone 12 as well as an iPhone 12 Pro, over both 4G and 5G.
When using 5G, the iPhone 12 lasted eight hours and 25 minutes, while the iPhone 12 Pro lasted nine hours and six minutes. When running the same test using 4G, the battery life was extended, with the iPhone 12 and 12 Pro hanging in there for ten hours and 23 minutes and 11 hours and 24 minutes, respectively.
Those numbers show that the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro’s battery life is sapped 20% faster when using 5G compared to 4G, at least in this testing benchmark.
A similar test on the iPhone 11 and the iPhone 11 Pro in 2019 over 4G provided a result of 11 hours and 16 minutes and ten hours and 24 minutes, respectively over 4G.
Tom’s Guide says the new iPhones fall short of the 5G battery life of 5G-capable Android phones under the same testing, saying “Apple’s new phones are a step behind those devices on our best phone battery life list, especially over 5G networks.”
While it was expected that the use of 5G would drain battery life more than 4G, battery capacities are also believed to have been reduced in the 2020 iPhone lineup.
Apple’s new iPhones use a “Smart Data mode,” which selectively turns off 5G at times when it may not be needed. The feature should help iPhone users extend their device’s battery life. 5G can also be manually turned off on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro.