Ever since the iPhone SE (2020) reveal, people have been grossing over one weak point on an otherwise great spec speet for a $399 phone – the 1821mAh battery. Reviewers and consumers alike have questioned whether this small of a battery – even with iOS optimizations, is enough in a 2020 smartphone? I have been asked this question personally by a lot of friends and family wanting to buy the SE, let’s find out if the concerns are real.
First and foremost, people seem to forget that a similar battery size was used in the iPhone 6, 6s, 7 and 8. So anyone comfortable with the battery life in those phones should be well equipped with the SE too. I could stop this article over here, but data always convinces people, so I went surveying.
I put up a story asking people with iPhone 6, 6s, 7 and 8 about their experience with the battery life and degradation on those phones. 30+ people replied – while not being the largest sample size, we can still extrapolate this. They also shared screenshots of the battery page in the Settings app and battery health levels. Some common points were:
- When idling, the phone barely consumes power (something iPhones are known for)
- Average Screen-on-time is 4 hours when new
- Over a period of 2/3 years, it slowly reduces to 3 hours with 85% average battery health
- Nearly half the people replaced their battery at the two-year mark
- Nearly half the people charge the phone fully atleast twice a day
Based on the above data, one thing is clear. Light/medium users will be comfortable with the screen-on-time, but heavy users might need multiple charges a day. Even if battery degradation does occur over time, replacements are fairly easy, and can be done on your own with the right tools and teardown guides from iFixit. Replacements should be affordable too, as Apple’s official pricing is $49 without warranty or AppleCare+. A note on battery replacements thoug – if you plan on getting batteries youself, the iPhone 8 battery isn’t compatible with the SE. Even though the capacity is the same, the connectors are physically different.
TL,DR: Most people will run just fine with the iPhone SE battery life. Heavy use cases, like watching movies, playing intensive games or shooting video for extended periods of time may require a power bank or being connected to the wall.
Last modified: May 14, 2020
