Apple traditionally wraps up its flagship announcements with promises of record-breaking battery life, and the iPhone 18 lineup was no exception. At the keynote, the company claimed that the iPhone 18 Pro Max would last up to 45 hours of video playback, while the base iPhone 18 Pro would last up to 36 hours. As before, Cupertino did not disclose the exact battery capacity, relying instead on marketing slides. However, the first independent checks, as reported by RBC-Ukraine citing tech blogger Dave2D, showed that the real figures fell noticeably short of the advertised promises.

Stress-Test Methodology

Popular YouTube blogger Dave2D ran a comparative stress test of the new smartphones against the iPhone 17 lineup, fixing the display brightness at 600 nits to rule out the influence of user settings. By Apple's design, the new devices' main "trumps" were supposed to be the new Apple A20 Pro chipset and the optimized operating system. It was against this backdrop that the independent check revealed a significant gap between the claimed and actual performance.

Results in Heavy and Light Scenarios

In the demanding game Genshin Impact, the larger battery of the iPhone 18 Pro Max yielded a gain of just 23 minutes compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max — a result that is hard to call a "record leap." Noticeable progress appears only in low-load scenarios: while scrolling the Reddit feed, the new device lasted 17 hours 19 minutes, versus 15 hours 36 minutes for its predecessor. Moreover, in certain "heavy" scenarios, the new models, according to the test, even lagged behind last year's iPhone 17.

Contradictory Data

Here it is important to honestly lay out two versions. On the one hand, Apple insists in its official materials on 45 hours of video for the Pro Max and 36 hours for the Pro, backed up by the new A20 Pro processor. On the other hand, Dave2D's independent measurements record a minimal gain under heavy loads and only a moderate one under light loads. In addition, the detailed numerical breakdown for the standard iPhone 18 Pro, described as an "even more contradictory" case, is not fully provided in the source text, so the exact figures for this model should be cross-checked against the blogger's original video. Thus, the gap between the marketing numbers and reality is confirmed, but the completeness of the data on the base Pro model in the available material remains incomplete.

Context: Comparison with Android Flagships

Besides the internal comparison with the iPhone 17, the new devices were also placed side by side with current Android flagships. According to Lifehacker, in such comparisons the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max still trail, for example, the OnePlus 15 in battery life, which further blurs the image of the "record holder" from Apple's promotional slides.

Takeaways for Buyers

For those who planned to upgrade specifically for "record" battery life thanks to the new A20 Pro processor alone, the real figures may be a disappointment. There is a gain, but it is local and manifests mainly in low-load scenarios, while in heavy tasks the new flagships are only on par with their predecessors. Buyers should rely not on the marketing video hours, but on independent stress tests tailored to their own usage scenarios.