Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Batteries in iPhone 17 The series offers longer use before it needs to charge than the iPhone 17 Pro Max, which offers “the best battery life of any phone CNET has tested,” according to managing editor Patrick Holland in Review it. This is partly due to physically larger battery sizes – but that’s not the whole story.
New software feature in iOS 26 Called Adaptive Power, it also contributes to improved battery life. It is enabled by default on the latest Apple Phonesbut also available on older Apple Intelligence-enabled models.
Currently, the iPhone uses as much power as it needs to perform its tasks. You can extend battery life by Do a number of thingssuch as reducing screen brightness and turning the screen off always. Or, if your battery is low, you can turn on Low Power Mode, which limits background activity, such as mail fetching and data downloading, along with screen downtime to help extend battery life. Low Power Mode also starts automatically when the battery level reaches 20%.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased technology content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET As Google’s preferred source.
If Low Power Mode is the hammer that worries power consumption, Adaptive Power is the scalpel that intelligently cuts power savings here and there as needed. Based on Apple’s description that accompanies the control, the savings will mostly be felt in power-hungry situations like recording videos, editing photos, or even playing games:
Apple says Adaptive Force takes about a week to analyze your usage behavior before it starts actively working. It runs in the background without requiring any administration on your part. Here’s how Apple describes it iPhone User Guide: “It uses on-device intelligence to predict when you need additional battery power based on your recent usage patterns, then makes performance adjustments to help your battery last longer.”
Watch this: The iPhone 17 Pro Max has incredible battery life
Which iPhone models can use Adaptive Power?
The feature uses artificial intelligence to monitor and choose when to activate power-saving measures, meaning only phones compatible with Apple’s intelligence get the feature. These are the models that have the option:
• iPhone 17
• iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max
• iPhone Air
• iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 16e
• iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max
Although some iPad and Mac models support Apple Intelligence, the feature is only available on iPhones.
How to turn on adaptive force
On the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and iPhone Air, Adaptive Power is turned on by default. For other models, you must subscribe to use them. In iOS 26, you’ll find Adaptive Power Toggle in Settings > Battery Mode > Power Mode. If you want to be alerted when the feature is active, turn on the Adaptive Power Notifications option.
In iOS 26, turn on Adaptive Power Setting to help extend battery life.
Adaptive Power looks like the growth of Game Mode, introduced in iOS 18, which directs all available processing and graphics to the foreground app and shuts down other processes in order to deliver the best possible experience — at the notable expense of battery.
When your iPhone uses Adaptive Power, a notification appears.
What does this mean for your charging habits?
Although we all want as much battery life as possible all the time, and based on the description, it seems as though Power Adaptive improvements won’t always be active, even if you leave the feature on. “When battery usage is higher than normal” can include a limited number of situations. However, considering that according to CNET Survey61% of people upgrade their phones because of battery life, a feature like Adaptive Power can extend the length of their phone just by updating to iOS 26.
I also wonder if adjusting the display brightness slightly might be disruptive, but in my experience so far, it hasn’t been noticeable. Since the feature also selectively deprioritizes processing tasks, external effects appear minimal. When activated on my iPhone 16 Pro, the only indication was the Adaptive Power Alert that appeared.
Read more: Adaptive Force in iOS 26 could save the iPhone 17 Air from this major pitfall
We’ll get a better idea of how successful Power Adaptation is as more people embrace iOS 26 and start buying new iPhone models. Also remember that shortly after installing a major software update, it is common to experience worse battery life as the system optimizes data in the background; Apple went so far as to remind customers that it is a Temporary side effect.