Apple iPhone Air battery life testing shows surprisingly good runtimes despite small 3,149 mAh cell capacity

The new Apple iPhone Air, unofficially known by many as the iPhone 17 Air, is one of the most exciting phones Apple has built in years. With a 5.6 mm thickness and a weight of just 165 g, the iPhone Air packs a lot of tech in an impressively thin and light body. But you can’t beat physics and, as such, Apple has had to make some sacrifices. One of the most obvious ones is the battery capacity.

The Apple iPhone Air packs a relatively small 3,149 mAh battery. For reference, the base iPhone 17 carries a 3,692 mAh pack, while the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge has a 3,900 mAh power pack. However, despite packing a small battery, the iPhone Air reportedly gets pretty good battery life.

Dave2D shows that the Apple iPhone Air lasts around 3 hours and 11 minutes in Genshin Impact at 600 nits. In a more routine setting, like using social apps like Reddit, Dave2D’s testing reveals 9.5 hours of total active use. By comparison, the regular iPhone 17, with its 3,692 mAh cell, lasts around 5 hours in the Genshin Impact test and just over 13 hours in the Reddit test.

With the iPhone Air, you are trading a considerable chunk of battery life to get a phone that thin. But, this longevity hit might not be an issue for some people who don’t use their phones a lot. What could be an issue, however, is the absence of features like dual-cameras and stereo speakers. The Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge has both of these, packs a 24% larger battery, and can currently be had for just $699.99 on Amazon. In fact, we gave the Galaxy S25 Edge a Top-Rated Award in our review.

So, while it is practically a given that Apple will sell a lot of iPhone Air units, if you want a super thin and light phone, the Galaxy S25 Edge seems to be better, at least on paper.