After complaints regarding the iPhone 14 battery degrading faster, Apple has added several new settings for the iPhone 15. According to X user Tech_Reve (via MacRumors), Cupertino offers more data about the iPhone’s battery life than before.
According to them, under “Settings,” “General,” and “About,” you can check the production date, initial usage time, and cycle count of your new iPhone 15. Interestingly, this seems exclusive to the new iPhones, as I couldn’t find the same settings for the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
With this change, users can get in-depth knowledge of how many cycles they already used and understand when to replace a degraded battery. Before this change, users would have to start their “hacker mode” by looking at the iPhone’s analytics and searching for “last_value_CycleCount.”
Thanks to these details now available, it’s also easier to understand why the Maximum Battery Capacity is degrading faster from 100%. In addition, Apple is improving how iPhone 15 users can protect their battery by adding a new Charging Optimization option in the battery health and charging menu.
As BGR‘s Chris Smith explained, “By limiting charging to 80% at all times, you’ll be taking a battery life hit, sure. But it’ll be minimal if you usually recharge the handset when it falls between 30% and 20%. However, preventing the battery from going to 100% might prolong the battery’s health.”
That said, Apple expects iPhone 15 users to have a more conscious usage of their devices as they’ll be able to understand better how their battery capacity impacts their iPhones.
At the moment, it doesn’t seem Apple is planning to roll out these changes to old iPhone models, but this could all change in the future – or if any government watchdog starts to complain.
BGR will keep reporting on everything new with iPhone 15 and iOS 17 as we learn more about them.
