iPhone 12 battery hours faster by 5G

The four new iPhones are equipped with 5G, which should make mobile internet faster. But what unfortunately also goes faster is the draining of the battery. A battery test of the iPhone 12 shows that the battery takes a big hit from 5G.

iPhone 12 battery 5G

Tom’s Guide conducted a battery test for the new iPhones. The renowned tech website allowed the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro to continuously surf the web, launching a new website every 30 seconds. The screen brightness was 150 nits. The test was carried out on both 5G and 4G, until the battery was empty.

The difference in battery life was big. With 4G, the iPhone 12 lasted 10 hours and 23 minutes. When using the internet with 5G, the battery life was only 8 hours and 25 minutes – a decrease of almost two hours.

With the iPhone 12 Pro – which, like the 12, has a 6.1-inch screen – the decline was even greater. With 4G, the battery lasted 11 hours and 24 minutes. With 5G, the counter stopped after 9 hours and 6 minutes, reducing the battery life by 2 hours and 18 minutes.

Switch to 4G

Of course, the battery test where surfing was only done in Safari, is just one of the many ways to test the battery life. But it does indicate that 5G can significantly reduce battery life. In that respect, it can be smart to switch to 4G sometimes.

This can also be done automatically with a new iOS function. Apple has added an option where the iPhone switches between 4G and 5G in a smart way. The feature is called Smart Data. When you open an app or website that requires a relatively large amount of data traffic, the iPhone automatically switches to the high speeds of 5G.

Unfortunately, the iPhone 12 cannot handle the fastest 5G version in the Netherlands and Belgium. You can read more about this in the article iPhone 12 does not support mmWave 5G in the Netherlands.