The last few point releases of iOS 14 have had a negative impact on the battery life of most iPhones. Many users were also reporting throttling and battery drain issues with their iPhone running iOS 14.5.1. So, has Apple managed to fix all these issues with iOS 14.6?
The official change-log from Apple does not mention any fixes for performance and battery life issues. However, a battery drain comparison by YouTuber iAppleBytes paints a more complete picture.
Sadly, going by the test results, it looks like Apple has not fixed the battery drain issues that iPhone users were facing on iOS 14.5.1.
In the Geekbench battery drain test, the iPhone 11 lasted for 5 hours and 17 minutes while running iOS 14.6. On iOS 14.5.1, it lasted for 5 hours and 25 minutes, which was already a notable decline from the 5 hours 54 minutes it had managed while running iOS 14.5. So, within a span of two iOS releases, the iPhone 11 has seen its battery life go down by over 37 minutes in a battery drain test.
Similarly, the iPhone XR lasted for 4 hours 52 minutes in the battery drain test on iOS 14.6. When running iOS 14.5.1, the device had lasted for 5 hours, which again was less than the runtime it managed on iOS 14.5.
Even the older iPhone 7 saw a notable decline in its runtime in the battery drain test, lasting for 3 hours 34 mins on iOS 14.6 vs. 3 hours 45 minutes on iOS 14.5.1. All other iPhones in the test also saw a similar decline in their battery life.
The results in the video can be corroborated with reports from iPhone users complaining about performance and battery life issues after updating to iOS 14.6.
It is clear that iOS 14.6 does nothing to fix the battery drain issues that iOS 14.5 and iOS 14.5.1 first introduced. Instead, it only seems to make matters worse. If you have already updated your iPhone to iOS 14.6 and are facing battery drain issues, check out these iOS 14 tips to improve your iPhone battery life.
Are you also facing battery drain and performance issues on your iPhone running iSO 14.6? Drop a comment and let us know!