People are curious about how their iPhone XS battery has aged over the past year

By Danny Zepeda
published

iPhone XS and XS Max
iPhone XS and XS Max (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • People seem to be curious about how much their iPhone XS battery has degraded over the past year.
  • YouTuber Dmitry Novoselov began the discussion by revealing his iPhone XS battery health was at 91%.
  • Other revealed their battery health were at varying levels like 85% or 99%.

It has been nearly one year since the iPhone XR, XS and XS Max were released. With the one year anniversary being revisited as many users are sending their devices back as part of an upgrade program, many are checking the health of their battery out of curiosity. Turns out the battery degradation is wildly different depending on the user.

YouTuber Dmitry Novoselov began the discussion when he posted a tweet asking how people's battery health was for their iPhones. He noted that his iPhone XS battery health was at 91% after one year of use. He wondered if the battery degradation of 9% was normal.

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This got people curious and they began to respond. Some reported battery health of 89% and 94% among other scores for different iPhones. YouTuber Justin Tse responded with one of the most striking declines with his battery health at 85%.

What's more surprising was when I checked the health of my iPhone XS. It is currently at 99% and still going strong. I received it on day one and have used it ever since. For my charging habits, I leave it on a wireless charger every night from 11 p.m to 6 a.m. (for the most part) like clockwork. I also checked with my co-worker to see how his iPhone X battery has aged over the past two years and he confirmed it is at 86%.

In case you are unaware, battery chemistry is not an exact science. Degradation will definitely occur, it just depends on the device and how a person uses it. But it can vary depending on certain differences. Novoselov tagged Apple Support and they responded with this statement:

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Additionally, it posted the link for Apple's support page for iPhone Battery and Performance (opens in new tab). It states: "As lithium-ion batteries chemically age, the amount of charge they can hold diminishes, resulting in shorter amounts of time before a device needs to be recharged."

iPhone batteries will degrade at different increments for everyone. I have no idea how mine has only degraded 1%, but I'll take it. However, it is not uncommon to see the battery of a brand new iPhone degrade by upwards of 10% over the course of a year. That's something worth noting when checking how your iPhone battery is doing after years of use.

What's the health of your iPhone battery? Let us know in the comments below.

Danny Zepeda
Danny Zepeda
7 Comments
  • My 1-year old XS Max still says it is at 100%. I charge it every night on a wireless charger, but I work from home so I normally don’t drain the battery much below 50%.
  • Same here. I use the snot out of my battery but try and top it up as much as possible, I keep it charging and use Bluetooth headphones when I’m at home. If I’m out I have a wireless charger most days. The inconvenience is worth it to keep my battery healthy. I am the same as you and rarely get below 50-60% and hopefully it sticks close to 100 for as long as possible.
  • I don't have an XS, I have an 8 Plus that I purchased from the Apple Store locally last October. I went ahead and paid the money to replaced the battery back in August. Back in June the battery was at 100%. Few weeks later it was at 97%. I remember checking a week after that and it was 95%. After another week it was at 93%. A few more days and 91%. Another few days and it was at 88%. So 9 months 100% and then one month a loss of 12%. It was the quick drop that concerned me. But the folks at the Apple Store gave me the usual answer that my battery still supported peak capacity and wasn't lasting long because I had lots of apps open and had lots updating in the background, using location, etc. I tried to tell them it's not the number of hours of use that I'm concerned about, even though it had decreased, it was the quick degrading of the battery that I was concerned about. They wouldn't hear it, so I just ponied up the money for a new battery.
  • I've had my XR for about 2/3 of a year and it's still at 100%
  • My 11 month old iPhone XS reports 100% battery health. I also charge it every night on a 5 W inductive charger.
  • XS Max 100% after 1 year, charging on wireless pad each night and on wireless car mount much of the day. Have recently stopped keeping it fully charged while driving because I read that’s not good for it.
  • My 1 yr old iphone XS is at 87% and my 2 yr old X is at 87%. This sounds wrong to me so I called apple. They ran a diagnostic check and said my XS was fine. I guess I can't complain too much if the battery replacement is only $69 thru apple.