In brief: The slim design of the iPhone Air may appeal to some users, but many worry it could come at the cost of battery life. Several YouTubers and tech publications have tested the new device to see whether Apple's claim of "all-day battery life" holds up under typical usage.
YouTuber Dave2D tested the iPhone Air and found it could run the notoriously hardware-intensive game Genshin Impact for around three hours and 11 minutes at 600 nits before shutting down. Under more typical conditions, such as web browsing and social media use, the device delivered roughly 9.5 hours of screen-on time on a single charge.
Tom's Guide put the new iPhones through rigorous battery tests, measuring endurance while browsing the web on 5G at 150 nits of brightness. The results were largely in line with expectations: the iPhone Air, with its small 3,149 mAh battery, ran out first, while the iPhone 17 Pro Max lasted the longest – nearly 50 percent longer than the Air.
In these tests, the iPhone Air managed 12 hours and two minutes, while the standard iPhone 17 stretched to 12 hours and 47 minutes. The iPhone 17 Pro performed significantly better at 15 hours and 32 minutes, and the Pro Max set the bar at an impressive 17 hours and 54 minutes.
YouTuber The Tech Chap also benchmarked the full iPhone 17 lineup alongside the iPhone Air, with results that closely mirrored Tom's Guide's findings. After one hour of YouTube streaming, the iPhone 17 Pro Max still had 63 percent battery remaining, just ahead of the 17 Pro at 58 percent. Interestingly, the base iPhone 17 and the iPhone Air were tied at 49 percent remaining.
The Tech Chap then fully recharged all the devices and ran an additional test, playing one hour of War Thunder. The iPhone 17 Pro Max once again came out on top, finishing with 82 percent battery remaining, followed closely by the 17 Pro at 80 percent. The iPhone 17 and iPhone Air tied once more, this time with just 77 percent left.
In a full battery drain test combining web browsing and gaming over both Wi-Fi and mobile data, the iPhone Air was the first to shut down, lasting six hours and 43 minutes. The standard iPhone 17 didn't fare much better, going dark at six hours and 55 minutes. The 17 Pro stretched further, running seven hours and 34 minutes before powering down at two percent remaining.
As expected, the 17 Pro Max proved the most resilient, lasting seven hours and 58 minutes and still retaining nine percent battery at the end of testing.
Overall, the results suggest that this year's flagship model could provide up to two hours of additional screen-on time compared to the iPhone Air in real-world use.