iPhone 13 Lineup to Feature Larger Batteries: Kuo

An Apple analyst says this year’s iPhone 13 lineup will feature larger batteries.

In a recent investor note seen by MacRumors, famed Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF Securities has said that the next iPhone models will feature larger batteries.

“The new 2H21 ‌iPhone‌ models feature a larger battery capacity than the iPhone 12 series, thanks to the space-saving design of many components,” writes Kuo. “Hence, the new 2H21 ‌iPhone‌ models are also slightly heavier than the ‌iPhone 12‌. The space-saving design includes integrating the SIM card slot with the mainboard, reducing the front optical modules’ thickness, etc.”

Apple will be able to squeeze in larger batteries because the iPhone 13 will have a “space-saving design of many components.” These design tweaks include integrating the SIM card slot with the motherboard and reducing the thickness of the TrueDepth camera array that’s required for Face ID.

The obvious downside to putting bigger batteries in the iPhone 13 is that the devices will be slightly heavier than the current generation of iPhones.

Furthermore, with Apple’s upcoming A15 chip expected to feature another round of energy efficiency upgrades combined with the improved performance of future 5G modems, it looks like Apple has a number of solutions to offset the increased power demands of 5G networking.

Kuo does not mention exactly how much bigger of a battery we could be looking at, so it remains to be seen how big of a difference in battery life we’re talking about.

That being said, it should be noted that usually new features in phones can also take up battery, which means that larger batteries might be used to make up for the additional drain and might not necessarily result in any massive gains.