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The first iPhone 11 Pro Max teardown confirms a 25 percent bigger battery

The first iPhone 11 Pro Max teardown confirms a 25 percent bigger battery

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Now with 15 watt-hours, up from 12

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The first teardown of the iPhone 11 Pro Max is officially out, courtesy of DChannel on YouTube, and it reveals the inner workings of the newest extra-large iPhone. The most interesting part: the 11 Pro Max has a 15.04 watt-hour battery, nearly 25 percent larger than the iPhone XS Max’s 12.06 watt-hour cells — suggesting the size of the battery, and not any software optimization, is likely the main reason for the new device’s greatly improved battery life.

Apple claims the iPhone 11 Pro Max will get five hours more battery life than the iPhone XS Max, and while it’s difficult to exactly replicate Apple’s internal battery tests, Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel found his iPhone 11 Pro Max review unit lasted for 12 to 14 hours on a single charge, up from roughly eight to 10 hours on his XS Max. Some of the battery gains may also be due to the A13 Bionic chip, which Apple claims is the most power efficient chip it’s ever made.

The thicker iPhone 11 Pro Max battery is on top.
The thicker iPhone 11 Pro Max battery is on top.
Image: DChannel (YouTube)

Also interesting: the new battery looks like a solid L. Phone batteries don’t traditionally come in odd shapes — most of the time, they’re rectangular. By using that custom L shape, Apple can maximize the available space inside the phone to pack in as much battery as possible. The iPhone XS Max also had an L-shaped battery, but it was two rectangular cells connected in an L-shape — it seems the iPhone 11 Pro Max’s fused L, in addition to an overall thicker battery, should give you more juice for your phone.

The teardown video also shows that Apple switched to a smaller, rectangular logic board in the iPhone 11 Pro Max from an L-shaped one in the iPhone XS Max, again leaving more room for a larger battery and other components. That also happens to give us a closer look at other components, like the three rear cameras and the front-facing Face ID-equipped TrueDepth module.