After months of beta testing, Apple released iOS 15.4 for all compatible iPhones in mid-March. iOS 15.4 will likely be the latest major point release of iOS as Apple will now focus on iOS 16 and its announcement at WWDC 2022. iOS 15.4 also packs some major bug fixes apart from several new features and enhancements. But what about battery life? Does iOS 15.4 fix all the battery drain issues or introduce some new problems of its own?
YouTuber iAppleBytes conducted an exhaustive battery drain test of iOS 15.4 on the iPhone 13, iPhone 12, iPhone 11, iPhone XR/7/8, and the iPhone SE series to find out. In the drain test, the iPhone 13 running iOS 15.4 lasted for 8 hours 26 minutes, slightly less than its runtime of 8 hours 34 minutes while running iOS 15.3.1. Similarly, the iPhone 12 saw its runtime going down by 22 minutes on iOS 15.4 — from 6 hours 34 minutes on iOS 15.3.1 to 6 hours 12 minutes.
The iPhone 11’s runtime remained relatively the same in the battery drain test on iOS 15.3.1 and iOS 15.4, as it managed to last around 5 hours 11 minutes. Interestingly, older devices like the iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, and iPhone 8 saw an increase in their battery life while running iOS 15.4, as their runtime increased by 20-30 minutes compared to iOS 15.3.1. The iPhone SE (2020) also saw a notable increase in its battery life, with its runtime going from 3 hours 14 minutes on iOS 15.3.1 to 3 hours 48 mins on iOS 15.4.
The results corroborate the experience of many iPhone 13 users who have been complaining of poor battery life since updating to iOS 15.4.
At the end of the video, you can also see how different iOS 15 releases have had a negative impact on battery life, and it has steadily declined since the initial build. While iOS 15.4 certainly amends this to a certain extent, that’s only true for older iPhones and not newer ones.
How has your iPhone’s battery life been after updating to iOS 15.4? Drop a comment and let us know!
