iPhone Air battery life tested — here’s how it really stacks up

I was really surprised when Apple claimed that the iPhone Air offers “all-day battery life” at the iPhone 17 launch event. How could something that’s only 5.6mm thin last for that long?

Apple says that the iPhone Air lasts for 27 hours of local video playback and 22 hours of streamed video playback. That sounds impressive, but we wanted to see how the iPhone Air stacks up in our own battery tests. And now that our iPhone Air review is live we can share all the details.

Web surfing over 5G

First, we put the iPhone Air through the Tom’s Guide Battery Test, which involves continuous web surfing over 5G (using T-Mobile’s network) at 150 nits of screen brightness.

We also tested the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and two Samsung phones at the same time and the same location: the Galaxy S25 Edge and Galaxy S25 Ultra. The results are pretty good but not mind-blowing.

The iPhone Air lasted 12 hours and 2 minutes in our testing, which is solid compared to Apple’s biggest rival. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge endured for 11 hours and 48 minutes when tested on the same day.

Compared to the regular iPhone 17, the iPhone Air is not that far behind. The iPhone 17 lasted 12:47, so we’re talking about a 45-minute difference.

However, compared to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, it’s no contest. That 6.9-inch beast endured for a crazy-long 17 hours and 54 minutes. So the iPhone 17 Pro Max lasts for nearly 6 hours longer than the Air. The iPhone 17 Pro endured for 15:32, so about 3.5 hours longer.

The handsets that make our best phone battery life list that run the same test all tend to last 14 hours or more.

Streaming video

Not everyone is going to surf the web all day, of course, so I wanted to try another test that mirrors real-world usage.

I fired up YouTube and played the same nature video across the iPhone Air and other competing phones for 5 hours, noting the battery capacity percentage at the end of the test.

After the 5-hour mark the iPhone Air was down to 81% battery. That’s way better than the super thin Galaxy S25 Edge’s 67%.

If we were to extrapolate these numbers, the iPhone Air would deliver 26 hours and 19 minutes of runtime. That would be even better than Apple’s 22-hour claim. The Galaxy S25 Edge would endure for 15 hours and 9 minutes. But this estimate is theoretical.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 17 Pro Max was down to 88% after 5 hours, which is pretty impressive. The iPhone 16 Pro Max was at 80%, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra 75%.

Bottom line

Overall, the iPhone Air offers solid battery life for a device that’s so svelte. It’s clear that Apple has maximized the available real estate inside the phone with this design, as the top portion (plateau) houses most of the main components, leaving room for a relatively large battery below.

Just don’t expect miracles. Twelve hours in our testing is good, but you can get nearly 6 hours more with the Phone 16 Pro Max. Still, it’s nice that you’re not giving up much longevity compared to the regular iPhone 17.

Note that Apple sells a MagSafe Battery pack that snaps on the iPhone Air for $99 that promises 65% additional charge. That’s nice, but to me it defeats the purpose of carrying around such a thin phone.

Nevertheless, we’ll update this story once we’ve tested that accessory.

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