Capping iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max refresh rate at 60Hz extends battery life by a small percentage،
Battery life is very important to many smartphone users. After all, your phone might have the most amazing features, but if the battery runs out, you can’t use them. There was a time when Apple didn’t seem too concerned about battery life and Samsung took aim at its rival by calling
iPhone users “wallhuggers” because they had to stay near an outlet to charge their phone.
But since the release of the iPhone 11
Pro Max in 2019, Apple has been more conscious of battery life, especially when it comes to the high-end iPhone model. When Apple discontinued the iPhone mini and replaced it with the larger-screen iPhone Plus model starting last year, it equipped the device with the largest battery ever put in an iPhone at that time. This year, that honor goes to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, as its 4,422 mAh capacity cell dwarfs the iPhone 15 Plus’ 4,383 mAh battery.
Is it worth the extra battery life to turn off the 120Hz refresh rate on iPhone 15 Pro models?
While the iPhone 15 Plus was not included in our battery test, it edged out the iPhone 15 Pro Max in other tests. One reason the Plus’s slightly smaller battery dwarfs that used by the Pro Max has to do with the 120Hz refresh rate used on the iPhone Pro models. The ProMotion display refreshes the screen in a range of 1 Hz to 120 Hz depending on the content displayed on the phone screen. Almost static images such as always-on display are refreshed at the lowest rate.
Reducing the maximum refresh rate to 60Hz on a compatible iPhone Pro model can give you 5% or 6% longer battery life.
Allowing the screen to refresh at lower rates, if applicable, reduces power consumption because redrawing the screen 120 times per second consumes battery life. With a constant refresh rate of 60 Hz, the
iPhone 15 Plus might end up with a little longer battery life than the
iPhone 15 Pro Max. And that made the guys and girls
Macmonde I wonder if going to the Accessibility menu and limiting the refresh rate on the iPhone 15 Pro and
iPhone 15 Pro Max at 60 Hz would significantly extend phone battery life.
Macworld tested this theory on both iPhone 15 Pro models using the Geekbench 4 battery life test. The screen has been calibrated at 200 nits and True Tone and auto-brightness have been disabled. The result? Only a 5-6% improvement in battery life was achieved from testing each phone twice.
If gaining 5% more battery life is more important than having smooth scrolling and animations with a 120Hz refresh rate, you can limit the refresh rate to 60Hz on your iPhone 13 Pro/Pro Max, iPhone 14 Pro/Pro Max or iPhone 15 Pro/ProMax. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Movement and activate Limit frame rate. This brings the maximum refresh rate down to 60Hz.
There is one thing you can try to extend the battery life of any phone
Testing by Macworld to limit the refresh rate resulted in the Geekbench 4 battery test score for the iPhone 15 Pro up 5%, going from 643 at 120 Hz to 675 at 60 Hz. iPhone 15 Pro Max The Geekbench 4 battery test score increased by 6%, from 782 at 120 Hz to 829 at 60 Hz.
If you’re a gamer, some titles support high refresh rates, so even if you feel like you can get by with 60Hz (admittedly a First World problem), if you play certain games like Call of Duty: Mobile, PUBG Mobile, League of Legends: Wild Rift, Brawl Stars, Alto’s Odyssey, and Genshin Impact, you’ll want to keep the higher frame rate enabled when playing.
There’s an overlooked way to extend battery life, not just on an iPhone, but on all phones. Turn off auto-brightness and set your screen to the lowest brightness level you feel comfortable with. Unlike turning on Airplane mode to save battery, reducing the brightness of your phone’s screen will allow it to remain fully functional while reducing battery power consumption.
