Apple yesterday released iOS 14.3 and iPadOS 14.3 for all compatible iPhones. iOS 14.3 is a pretty major update that apart from adding new features and enhancements also brings some bug fixes to the table. Prior to the release of iOS 14.3, iPhone users were complaining about standby battery drain on iOS 14.2. Has Apple fixed that issue with the release of iOS 14.3?
YouTuber iAppleBytes has conducted an in-depth battery drain test on a bunch of iPhones including the original iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone XR, iPhone 11, and iPhone SE (2020) running iOS 14.3 to see if Apple has made any improvements with this release or not.
In the Geekbench battery drain test, the iPhone 11 lasted for 5 hours and 7 minutes — down by 9 minutes from when it was running iOS 14.2. The iPhone SE (2020) and the iPhone XR also saw a decline in their battery life of around 7-8 minutes on iOS 14.3 when compared to iOS 14.2. Older iPhones like the iPhone 7, iPhone SE, and the iPhone 8 also showed mixed results, with none of the devices showing any impressive gains in battery life.
From the iOS 14.3 battery drain test, it seems clear that the update won’t magically do anything to improve your iPhone’s battery life. One can only hope though that Apple has fixed the excessive standby battery drain bug which has been plaguing iPhone 12 owners with this update.
If you do install the iOS 14.3 update on your iPhone, do wait for at least a week for things to settle down before passing a judgment on whether the update has had a positive or negative impact on the battery life of your device. If you continue to face excessive battery drain on your iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Pro series, you can follow some of the tips mentioned here to improve its battery life.
