I need my iPhone 14 to have a 2-day battery life; Apple, you can do this.

 Is there anything that matters more on a phone than battery life? On September 7, Apple will undoubtedly highlight stunning new cameras, significant design changes (goodbye notch), and the A16 Bionic chip. But how much time will Tim Cook and company devote to discussing battery life?

At most iPhone debuts, it's usually a footnote. Apple updates the SoC, maybe going from a 5nm technology to a 3nm process and making small efficiency increases that result in extended battery life.

I agree with it completely, but I truly want more—like an additional 24 hours. I hope that the iPhone 14 line will be the first in the 15-year history of the iPhone to offer a two-day battery life guarantee. Although it seems far-fetched, I believe it to be both necessary and somewhat realistic.

Better not faster

In case you hadn't noticed, the fight for the hearts, minds, and wallets of smartphone buyers is now being waged on the new battlefield of battery life, or more particularly, battery charging. Everyone is promoting enormous charging-wattage support (up to 150 watts) to enable incredibly quick charge times, from OnePlus to Samsung.

The iPhone 13 can already charge 50% in 30 minutes using a non-standard 20-watt charger; the charger that came with previous models of the iPhone only generates 5V. Apple is already offering a 35W converter that can simultaneously charge two smartphones.

This is insignificant in comparison to OnePlus, which recently released a phone, the OnePlus 10T, that can support 150W charging (albeit it didn't at launch), while Samsung's Galaxy Z S22 range can draw juice from a robust 65W charger. According to my observations, all of these larger chargers actually charge phones much, much faster.

I genuinely appreciate the effort, however this only offers a partial fix for the battery life issues I and millions of other iPhone and Android phone owners face. It's true that these problems have become better with time, but even so:

Larger batteries are required.

Better batteries are required.

A breakthrough is required.

It's important to note that Apple is the only manufacturer of smartphones that keeps the size of its batteries a secret. The different iPhone 13 capacities can be accessed online, despite not being stated on Apple's website:

Mini iPhone 13: 2,406 mAh

3,227 mAh for iPhone 13.

3,095mAh for the iPhone 13 Pro

4,352mAh for the iPhone 13 Pro.

Even if those figures are correct, none of them can compare to the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra's 5,000mAh battery capacity. No one in the industry wants to go above 5,000, as far as I can tell. Even the 7.6-inch Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4 has a maximum battery capacity of 4,400mAh.

It's fair to say that battery technology is complicated for Apple and other businesses. Most cellphones have layers upon layers of intricate chemical reactions in their batteries. This occasionally causes batteries to malfunction or even unexpectedly bulge.

Apple cannot afford to merely increase the mAh and call it a day with the iPhone 14. The upcoming iPhone 14 Pro Max and similarly sized iPhone 14 Max can both have 5,000mAh batteries, I'd contend, and there's no reason why they can't.

Of fact, even that won't be sufficient.

My iPhone 14's battery life will be at or below 80% in three years, thus I need a two-day battery life today. Any mobile battery's lifespan typically follows an inverted "hockey stick" curve. My one-year-old iPhone 13 Pro claims 97% of its original capacity, but I think that's being charitable. After a few years, the degradation speeds up to the point where the downward trajectory more closely resembles a rollercoaster drop.

Batteries with more intelligence

Apple described to me how it uses artificial intelligence a few years ago to better manage battery life. The system analyses power consumption, usage patterns, and other factors to control battery usage right down to the component level. The state of the art in battery management has improved since iOS 10 because of this. We can observe it in iOS 15's battery settings, which display battery usage by app (Safari is my most virulent offender), the Battery Health section, and the new charging optimization control we have available to help slow down battery ageing.

My iPhone 13 struggles to last a day even with all of this. The truth is that we're not always near a plug, so many of us resort to carrying cumbersome portable chargers. It's like carrying two phones, but one of them is a largely useless brick. Sure, if I have a 20W charger available and I'm near an outlet, I can be halfway charged in no time.

Apple has a chance to take things farther with the iPhone 14 range. Apple can still boost battery capacity across the board if it is unable to fundamentally alter lithium-ion battery chemistry, which I'll assume it cannot. Still, I'm expecting for a turning point in AI battery management. Let's look at AI that, given the chance, is capable of much more than managing background operations. It would also be beneficial if Apple put greater pressure on its developer partners to create apps that are more effective.

a few modifications

Spreading variable refresh rates over the whole iPhone 14 series would also benefit Apple. Only the Pro and Pro Max models of the iPhone 13 have variable refresh rates that go up to 120Hz. The system's ability to reduce screen redraws to, say, 1Hz when there is little to no movement on the screen will have a positive impact on battery life.

In some small way more, we also need Apple to assist us in assisting ourselves. In order to provide users of the iPhone 14 with additional information to better manage their own app usage and extend battery life, I'd want to see Apple link Screen Time to battery usage.

There will be more room in the smartphones (especially the larger ones) and it will be simple for Apple to enlarge the batteries if the A16 Bionic uses a smaller, more effective 3nm technology as expected.

With a goal of doubling that, if not this year or next, then perhaps by 2025, I want Apple to start considering 24 hours as a new minimum bar for smartphone battery performance.

When I say that smartphone owners are preoccupied with battery life, I don't think I'm exaggerating. It's time for Apple (and others) to truly change the battery life game and stop using rapid charging as a band-aid fix.

The Apple iPhone 14 might be the beginning of this, in my opinion.