I wished to spend extra time with each the iPhone 13 Mini and the iPhone 13 Pro Max earlier than I weighed in with a last verdict on their respective batteries. I’ve up to date my full opinions of every to mirror my impressions after utilizing them for a pair weeks, however I figured it is likely to be useful to put out what I’m seeing individually.

The lengthy and the in need of it’s that, in each circumstances, the batteries exceeded my expectations. Apple actually did enhance on the function that issues most to most individuals: these telephones last more than their predecessors.

It’s simple to speak concerning the battery life on the iPhone 13 Pro Max. It’s ridiculous. It goes and goes, lasting so lengthy that I needed to actively work to kill the factor in lower than a full day by simply capturing a bunch of 4K video to empty it. I feel the vast majority of folks will be capable of get nicely into their second day of use earlier than the battery warnings pop up. And I’m speaking devil-may-care use, doing no matter you need with out concern sort of use. It is, because the headline implies, a battery beast.

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

The iPhone 13 Mini is a extra sophisticated story. I feel that should you’re the kind of one that isn’t utterly glued to their display for a lot of the day, you’ll discover that on the finish of that day, the 13 Mini will nonetheless have some juice. That’s a particular enchancment over final yr’s iPhone 12 Mini, however it nonetheless nonetheless doesn’t final so long as bigger telephones — together with each the iPhone 13 and even final yr’s iPhone 12.

In my preliminary evaluation of the iPhone 13 Mini, right here’s what I needed to say: “The iPhone 12 and 13 Minis are meant to be minimalistic both in size and also in how much you use them.” The distinction this yr is, as a substitute of getting to make main adjustments in my cellphone habits, I solely needed to make modest ones.

You could have seen this excellent battery rundown test from Arun Maini (aka Mrwhosetheboss). Maini’s video is superb as a result of by your entire timelapse, you’ll be able to see precisely what actions the telephones are doing as they drain down, and it’s an enormous array of stuff. His consequence has the iPhone 13 Mini outlasting final yr’s iPhone 12. I don’t have the 2 to match instantly myself, however in my day by day utilization of the Mini this yr, my battery life hasn’t been fairly that good.

This is all very fuzzy, however that’s the character of battery testing in the actual world. We all use our telephones in a different way, and so predictions are essentially obscure. But the truth that we use our telephones in a different way is the purpose: the iPhone 13 Mini is a cellphone that I imagine ought to be used in a different way.

Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

As with the iPad Mini, the smaller display right here subtly influences your habits in ways in which aren’t instantly apparent. Even although it runs the very same software program because the 13 Pro Max, the iPhone 13 Mini encourages extra sporadic use for shorter durations simply because it’s smaller and fewer immersive. If you’ll be able to adapt your cellphone utilization to suit, it’s nice — and positively higher than final yr.

The identical perception applies to the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Its gigantic display additionally encourages a distinct sort of use — particularly extra of it. But as a result of it merely can have such an enormous battery inside (and maybe as a result of it will possibly range the refresh fee of the display), these behaviors don’t have an effect on how lengthy it lasts as a lot. Physics is physics, and the battery within the 13 Pro Max is bodily large.