The iPhone 17 Air and Galaxy S25 Edge’s greatest compromises make them a no-go for me

It appears like

iPhone 17
rumors are hitting continuous today, which is smart — we’re about 4 months out from launch, so {hardware} particulars should be locked down forward of mass manufacturing. It takes fairly some time to churn out the hundreds of thousands of items Apple must fulfill worldwide launch demand.

The most recent rumor (through The Information), is that so as to obtain its ultra-thin 5.5mm physique, the

iPhone 17 Air
will sport a critical compromise in battery life. How a lot? Allegedly, Apple’s inner testing means that simply 60 to 70% of householders will be capable of make it a full day on a single cost, down from about 80 to 90% for different iPhone fashions. The corporate is even mentioned to be getting ready a brand new battery case, one thing it hasn’t provided for the reason that discontinued MagSafe Battery Pack.

Comparable rumors have emerged round Samsung’s

Galaxy S25 Edge
. In accordance with WinFuture, the cellphone might have a 3,900mAh battery — that is extra capability than the iPhone 16, however under the common S25’s 4,000mAh, and far lower than the S25 Extremely’s 5,000mAh. That is put me off each Samsung and Apple’s upcoming “vanguard” telephones, and never simply because everybody prefers larger numbers.

Dealing with the established order

As a tech journalist, I is perhaps an exception, however I discover that the majority telephones nonetheless do not have sufficient battery life, by no means thoughts rolling issues again. My present day by day driver is an iPhone 16 Professional, which based on Apple, ought to be able to as much as 22 hours of (streaming) video playback. Sounds spectacular, proper? In apply, nevertheless, I am struggling to consider how that could possibly be attainable. I prefer to placed on Reuters’ video briefing whereas I bathe and alter within the morning, and I am going to generally see the battery drop to 90% or decrease earlier than I even get downstairs for breakfast. On exercise days, it is attainable for the battery to dip under 30% by the point I get into mattress, and that is after a 15- to 16-hour day of principally non-video exercise. If I truly spent an hour or two streaming YouTube, I might most likely should put my cellphone in Low Energy Mode in some unspecified time in the future.

I might say it is baffling that Apple and Samsung look like headed within the flawed route, however actually, it isn’t. Each corporations have lengthy put different upgrades forward of battery life. It’s, in concept, attainable to make it over a day when you’ve obtained a cellphone just like the Galaxy S25 Extremely or iPhone 16 Professional Max, however solely with mild utilization. Certainly, battery life has all the time performed second fiddle for many smartphone makers, just because greater batteries are costly whereas being powerful to use in advertising and marketing campaigns. A 6.9-inch display or a 10X telephoto lens is instantly spectacular — it is more durable to wow folks with an additional two or three hours of runtime.

This 12 months, it looks as if each Apple and Samsung are engaged on the belief that we’ll be wowed by thinness, which is a mistake. It may entice some folks, actually, however we’re not within the 2000s anymore — telephones have been skinny for a very long time. Nobody I do know is complaining about thickness. If something, the problem appears to be that telephones have grow to be unwieldly, getting thinner whereas concurrently rising taller, wider, and slipperier. Metallic and glass could also be good aesthetically — however with no case, skinny units like my iPhone and my spouse’s OnePlus 9 5G really feel like they might slip out of my fingers with one flawed gesture.

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So near price range nirvana, but up to now.

A worrisome route for the longer term

Misusing the most recent tech

Each the iPhone 17 Air and S25 Edge could also be based mostly on silicon-carbon batteries, a variation of the lithium-ion batteries we’re used to, merely with larger vitality density. That hasn’t been confirmed, however the tech has been utilized in a couple of telephones already, and now appears poised to go mainstream.

In that case, I am nervous {that a} unhealthy precedent is rising. After I first heard about silicon-carbon, my hope was that we might get extra longevity out of telephones the identical dimension, or not less than equal longevity from barely smaller units. Ought to the Air and Edge show profitable, we could possibly be hit with a wave of copycat units, a few of which can additionally throw battery life underneath the bus. That might take the business backward at a time when persons are extra depending on smartphones than ever.

To be honest, Apple and Samsung could also be making an attempt to maintain elements prices down and retail costs in verify. Silicon-carbon batteries are costlier to provide in the intervening time, so even making an attempt to match the capacities of normal lithium-ion batteries could also be troublesome with no chew into revenue margins. It could possibly be that after manufacturing prices come down, we’ll see capacities go up once more, fulfilling the brand new tech’s promise. Who is aware of — possibly Apple will truly ship a two-day iPhone sooner or later.

Alongside these traces, I am hopeful that each the Air and the Edge will serve a function just like the iPhone X, which Apple launched in 2017. This was the primary iPhone with an OLED show and a

Face ID
digital camera, costing a then-unprecedented $999. Many individuals balked at it, however gross sales of the iPhone X, iPhone XS, and iPhone 11 Professional ultimately pushed manufacturing prices down, making it attainable to place each OLED and Face ID on the $799 iPhone 12. Nowadays, even the $599

iPhone 16e
shares these options.

Time will inform how briskly the brand new battery tech bridges over to helpful capacities at inexpensive costs, if it does in any respect. I simply know that for now, Apple and Samsung can depend me out of units that scale back battery life with none tangible advantages. It will hardly matter how cool a cellphone seems sliding out of my pocket if I am unable to make it to the health club and again with out plugging into my automobile — or from Alberta to Texas with no battery pack or charging through the flight’s layover. I suppose I am going to nonetheless be bringing my iPad alongside for mid-flight leisure.

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