The Apple iPhone 13 Pro first appeared in September 2021 and, as befits a device in our Ultra-Premium segment ($ 800 and up), it is packed with a lot of interesting features. Let’s see how it fared in our battery protocol tests.
Key specs:
- Battery capacity: 3095mAh
- 20W charger (not included)
- 6.1-inch, 1170 x 2532, 120Hz OLED display
- Apple A15 Bionic chipset (5 nm).
- ROM / RAM combination tested: 256GB + 6GB
About SBMARK Battery Tests: For the score and analysis in our smartphone battery reviews, SBMARK engineers perform a series of objective tests over a period of one week both indoors and outdoors. This article highlights the most important results of our tests. (See our introductory article and how we test articles for more details on our Smartphone Battery Protocol.)
Test summary
Pros
- More than 2 days of autonomy with moderate use
- Very well optimized device
- Very low power consumption when streaming music and videos
Cons
- Low battery life when using the camera on the go
- Poor charging efficiency
Of the Ultra-Premium devices compared in this review, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro has the smallest battery capacity (3095mAh), but still scored higher overall than its two rivals, the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra ( 5000mAh) and the OnePlus 9 Pro (4500mAh), although it didn’t beat the larger iPhone 13 Pro Max. The table below shows the battery capacity, charger tested, display type and resolution, and the specifications of the processor for all four devices.
| Apple iPhone 13 Pro | Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) | Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max | OnePlus 9 Pro | |
| Drums | 3095 mAh | 5000 mAh | 4352 mAh | 4500 mAh |
| Battery charger
wireless |
20W (not included)
15W |
25W (not included)
15W |
20W (not included)
15W |
65 W
50 W |
| Display type | OLED | OLED | OLED | OLED |
| Resolution | 1170 x 2532 | 1440 x 3200 | 1284 x 2778 | 1440 x 3216 |
| Processor | Apple A15 Bionic 5 nm | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G 5 nm | Apple A15 Bionic 5 nm | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G 5 nm |
Autonomy (60)
Battery life depends not only on the capacity of the battery, but also on other aspects of the phone’s hardware and software. The SBMARK battery life score is made up of three sub-scores of performance: (1) Stationary, (2) On the go, and (3) Calibrated use cases. Each sub-score includes the results of a full range of tests to measure autonomy in all kinds of real-life scenarios.
77 hours
Light use
Active: 2h30 / day
53 hours
Moderate use
Active: 4 hours a day
33 hours
Intense use
Active: 7 hours a day
With nearly 30% less battery capacity, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro does not perform as well as the iPhone 13 Pro Max during our battery life tests.
Stationary
Viva Y72 5G
The best: Vivo Y72 5G (104)
A robot housed in a Faraday cage performs a series of touch-based user actions during what we call our “typical use scenario” (TUS) – making calls, streaming video, etc. – 4 hours of active use over a 16-hour period, plus 8 hours of “sleep”. The robot repeats this series of actions every day until the device is discharged.
While both Apple devices outperformed Samsung and OnePlus devices in our TUS tests, the Apple iPhone 13 Pro lasted 59 hours and 5 minutes in our TUS tests, which is 12 hours and 15 minutes shorter than the iPhone 13 Pro Max. Both iPhones lost only 1% battery overnight, which is even better than the competition.
In movement
Samsung Galaxy M51
The best: Samsung Galaxy M51 (96)
Using a smartphone on the go puts a strain on autonomy due to additional “hidden” requests, such as the continuous signaling associated with the selection of the cell phone network. SBMARK Battery experts take the phone outside and perform a series of precisely defined activities while following the same three-hour travel itinerary for each device.
The Apple iPhone 13 Pro offers better-than-average performance than Ultra-Premium devices in almost all use cases during our on-the-go tests. Its weak point is the autonomy in using the camera, which is considerably lower than that of its rivals.
Calibrated
Samsung Galaxy M51
The best: Samsung Galaxy M51 (100)
For this series of tests, the smartphone returns to the Faraday cage and ours robots repeatedly perform actions related to a specific use case (such as games, video streaming, etc.) at a time. Starting at an 80% charge, all devices are tested until they have consumed at least 5% of the battery charge.
The iPhone 13 Pro showed good results when streaming music and videos, a significantly longer battery life than the OnePlus 9 Pro. However, it had poor battery life during games and 3G calls, where its rival Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) has done a lot better. That said, with the exception of 3G calls, the larger iPhone 13 Pro Max has the best battery life for all calibrated tests in this segment.
Refill (78)
The SBMARK battery charge score consists of two secondary scores, Full Charge and Quick Boost. Full charge tests evaluate the reliability of the battery charge indicator; measure how long it takes to charge a battery from zero to 80% capacity and from 80% to 100%; and measure how long and how much energy it takes for the battery to go from an indicated 100% to an actual full charge. With the phone at different charge levels (20%, 40%, 60%, 80%), Quick boost tests measure the amount of charge the battery receives after being plugged in for 5 minutes.
The iPhone 13 Pro can use a 20W charger which allows it to fully charge the battery faster than the iPhone 13 Pro Max (which has a larger battery capacity), but is far behind the 65W charging performance of OnePlus 9 Pro.
Full charge
Nubia RedMagic 6 Pro
The best: Nubia RedMagic 6 Pro (117)
The iPhone 13 Pro needs 1 hour and 34 minutes to get to a 100% charge shown on the battery level indicator and an additional 9 minutes to fully charge its 3095mAh battery. This is 28 minutes faster than the iPhone 13 Pro Max, which has a larger battery capacity of 4352mAh.
As for wireless charging, iPhone 13 Pro needs 1 hour and 54 minutes to fully charge the battery, which is almost the same performance as the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra (1 hour and 57 minutes) and 33 minutes faster than the iPhone. 13 Pro Max (2 hours 27 minutes).
However, the OnePlus 9 Pro is the clear winner in this competition, as its 65W wired charger powers the 4500mAh battery in just 53 minutes, and its 50W wireless charger allows it to fully charge in 58 minutes.
Fast thrust
Xiaomi 11T Pro
The best: Xiaomi 11T Pro (109)
By connecting the iPhone 13 Pro smartphone for 5 minutes with less than 50% remaining battery power, users will gain 3 hours and 30 minutes of battery life. This is better than both the Samsung and the 13 Pro Max, but far behind the OnePlus 9 Pro, which gains 5 hours and 30 minutes on a quick charge.
| Apple iPhone 13 Pro | Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) | Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max | OnePlus 9 Pro | ||
| Increase of autonomy (hh: mm) | 20% | 3:36 | 3:24 | 3:11 | 5:35 |
| 40% | 3:29 | 3:22 | 3:18 | 5:07 | |
| 60% | 2:22 | 2:54 | 3:02 | 4:15 | |
| 80% | 1:12 | 2:11 | 1:35 | 2:48 | |
| Percentage increase | 20% | 9.8% | 9.2% | 6.3% | 18.7% |
| 40% | 9.4% | 9.1% | 6.5% | 17.2% | |
| 60% | 6.4% | 7.8% | 6% | 14.2% | |
| 80% | 3.3% | 5.9% | 3.1% | 9.4% | |
| Energy consumed | 20% | 1723 MWh | 2279 MWh | 1621 MWh | 4096 MWh |
| 40% | 1665 MWh | 2262 MWh | 1678 MWh | 3764 MWh | |
| 60% | 1135 MWh | 1950 MWh | 1545 MWh | 3118 MWh | |
| 80% | 576 MWh | 1468 MWh | 802 MWh | 2057 MWh |
Efficiency (102)
The SBMARK energy efficiency score consists of two secondary scores, Charge up and Discharge rate, which combine both data obtained when testing typical robot-based usage scenarios, outdoor mobility tests, charge evaluation and measurements of the power, so they take into account the battery capacity of the device.
The Apple iPhone 13 Pro has poor charging efficiency but excellent current discharge control.
Charge Up
Oppo Find X5 Pro
The best: Oppo Find X5 Pro (86)
Although the iPhone 13 Pro is equipped with an efficient charger, its overall charging system is not very efficient at 67.9%, lower than the S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon) at 78.8% and OnePlus 9 Pro at 89, 5%.
As opposed to charging efficiency, the iPhone 13 Pro is a very well designed device that shows low power consumption during all uses and indeed has the lowest discharge current in our database for WiFi video streaming and video playback.
Conclusion
The iPhone 13 Pro is a very well optimized device, offering more than 2 days of battery life with moderate use.
Start a new Thread