Honey, I shrunk the battery: Something's gotta give as iPhone 12's logic board swells to accommodate 5G chippery

The iPhone 12 series is Apple's debut foray into producing 5G-capable devices and the first major redesign since the launch of the iPhone X. But what lurks underneath? A new teardown from iFixit shows off the innards of the entry-level iPhone 12, as well as its Pro sibling. With these new mobes, Apple makes few advancements in …

[Anonymous Coward]

The Iphone 13 will come quicker than the 5G

Buying the latest shiny shiny, or any other smartphone, for the 5G is probably a little but premature, by at least 18 months.. And what with Huawei having been taken out of the market 5G is likely to come later rather than sooner...

Apple however, with the fortune that they now have amassed, could actually help by installing some antenae whilst simultaneously providing some of their lawyers to help fight the green anti-5G crowd...

[Dinanziame]

Re: The Iphone 13 will come quicker than the 5G

I'm suddenly wondering if they'll do a sidestep to avoid version 13, like Microsoft skipped Windows 9...

[Phil Kingston]

Re: The Iphone 13 will come quicker than the 5G

I'll wager 5GS

[ridley]

Re: The Iphone 13 will come quicker than the 5G

What?

Install 5G antennas and help spread the virus, are you mad!

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: The Iphone 13 will come quicker than the 5G

But if Apple install 5g antennas then only fashionista liberals will get it.

[lglethal]

Just curious

Smaller battery equals shorter runtime? Or have they managed to up the battery capacity despite the smaller form factor?

[kat_bg]

Re: Just curious

Battery is smaller than on the Iphone 11 (marginally). Maybe A14 was optimized to use less power when running on 4G...

[Dave 126]

Re: Just curious

Anandtech aren't sure yet. They note Apple aren't boasting about the new chip being more power efficient, but it's possible that it is (along with OLED display and other components) to offset slightly smaller battery - and retain battery life comparable to last model.

They'll likely have a test soon, now the phone is shipping.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/16088/apple-announces-5nm-a14-soc-meagre-upgrades-or-less-power-hungry

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Just curious

> Smaller battery equals shorter runtime?

Neither - less power required. Older 3G & 4G phones needed a lot of battery power to cause brain tumours, but speading Covid via 5G is much more power efficient.

_{[Note: may contain buts and other statements of an ironic nature.]}

[fidodogbreath]

Re: Just curious

Smaller battery equals shorter runtime?

Tomsguide says yes for the 12, no for the 12 Pro.

iPhone 12 has a 2815mAh battery, which is 90.5% of the 3110mAh battery in the iPhone 11.

Setting aside 5G power-hoggery, the 12 gave 10.38 hrs of 4G runtime on their battery test, which is 92% of the 11.27 hrs for the 11. So, pretty close to a direct correlation.

Oddly, despite a similar difference in battery size, the results were flipped for the Pro versions: 12 Pro gave 11.4 hrs of 4G runtime on their battery test -- 109.6% of the 10.4 hrs for the 11 Pro. They offered no explanation for the difference.

5G battery life absolutely sucks on both models.

[Cynic_999]

Re: Just curious

Not sure you can put any meaningful figure on "runtime" because people use phones in so many different ways that affect consumption. Using a phone mainly to check emails and make & receive a few calls and SMS messages is completely different to using it to watch Netflix, YouTube and be on social media for half the day. If you use the cellular connection significantly, then how close you are to the cell tower makes a huge difference to the power consumption.

I put my phone on charge when I go to bed and unplug it when I get up. I do not want to have to charge it in between. Therefore I want a phone that has a runtime of 16 hours at least with the way I use my phone 99% of the time.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Just curious

Not really, you can do a direct comparison to different models with the same scenarios, like the post before did.

[FlippingGerman]

Re: Just curious

I just made a similar comment on the OnePlus 8T article. 99% means about 3 days a year you'll run out or have to charge. That sounds great.

[katrinab]

Re: Just curious

My iPhone 8+ gets about 3 days of battery life when sitting next to a WiFi access point, and about 20 meters from a 4g tower if I don’t use it at all.

[YetAnotherJoeBlow]

Re: Just curious

"I want a phone that has a runtime of 16 hours at least with the way I use my phone 99% of the time."

Woah! Stop and smell the roses some time - life is so much more.

[Cynic_999]

Re: Just curious

"

Woah! Stop and smell the roses some time - life is so much more.

"

I did not say that it wasn't. It's is something I consider if and when I am deciding which phone to buy. It does not imply that having a phone is a particularly important aspect of my life.

[Lindsay T]

Re: Just curious

Exactly. I suspect that most of us run a very similar cyle. My tablet gets heavier use some days and needs a charge during the day, which is a pain in the ****, and unacceptable in a phone.

[DS999]

Re: Just curious

5G battery life absolutely sucks on both models

5G battery life sucks on every phone, just like LTE battery life did at first. Eventually it will get better, just like LTE did over time.

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Just curious

5g battery life is probably great since the only 5g signal is in Apple's labs

[Anonymous Coward]

A cynic might think that they are using 5G as the hook to reel in a load of upgrade punters who will then discover that there are a number of "compromises" made in the design spec of the iPhone 12 which are magically fixed in the iPhone 13 ... why sell a phone when you could sell two!

[Anonymous Coward]

True, but a realist would say if they hadn't included 5G in their flagship phone they would have faced all sorts of criticisms for that too.

[Dave 126]

Few if any reviewers are recommending buying a phone just because it has 5G modems. However, if you're on the market for a new phone anyway, and expect to use it for several years (iPhones tend to get updates for around five years, Apple are touting a tougher screen and easier to use cases, so that's not an unrealistic expectation - with a new battery half way through) then having 5G can't do any harm.

[Porco Rosso]

Infineon’s Wireless Solutions Business...

Any news when or not Apple will integrate there own develop G5 modem in there products or even in there SoC ?

That ex Intel-team must be working overtime to realise it (on the single chip and on software side) , No ?

[ITS Retired]

Why not...

Instead of 5G, which is not fully settled yet, why not a bigger battery, which will make the phone last longer before the battery wears out?

Oops sorry, I was thinking along the needs of the customer instead of the wants of the manufacture, which is making money.

[Dave 126]

Re: Why not...

After a couple of years, Apple will charge you £70 for a new battery. Not super cheap, but not unaffordable for someone with a pricey phone. Apple won't offer a similar service to add 5G to a phone that never had it.

It doesn't seem that customer-unfriendly to future proof a phone. If you don't want 5G, the iPhone 11 is still available. Most of the differences between the 11 and 12 besides 5G are an OLED screen, a supposedly more resilient screen or else cosmetic.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Why not...

For any successful company, the needs of the customer ARE the wants of the manufacturer; otherwise they'll go out of business.

[c3me]

Re: Why not...

if there is a competitive marketplace with well-informed customers

we actually live imperfect market place with an overdose of questionable marketing messages in place of customer information, sadly

[Yet Another Anonymous coward]

Re: Why not...

>Instead of 5G, .... why not a bigger battery

Because 5G will allow you to actually talk to people using your phone

[lglethal]

Re: Why not...

Come again?

I'm pretty certain my phone doesnt have 5G at the moment (its about 6 years old afterall), and funnily enough I can still use it to make calls and talk to people. Who woulda thunk it?

[Cynic_999]

Re: Why not...

I remember a time when the *only* thing you could use a phone for was to talk to people ...

[Cynic_999]

Re: Why not...

You can easily solve the problem by pulling a car battery around on a trolly. This will last many weeks between charges.

[DS999]

No one was surprised it used Qualcomm's 5G chip

That was widely reported when the two kissed and made up, resulting in a "multiyear chip supply agreement". Apple is working on their own modem, but given that Intel was not going to be ready with theirs in time for the 2020 iPhone and Apple will need additional time to combine their pre-existing efforts with the Intel team they bought, that is probably a couple years out yet.

[Katy_B]

5G battery life anguish

Personally I don't worry about 5G draining my new iPhone 12 Pro. I'm on O2 and there's sod all 5G around to worry about.