Figures cited by Tom’s Guide show that the battery capacity of the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max is significantly different, while Apple does not publish mAh parameters on the product page.
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Apple does not announce battery capacity in mAh
On the product page, Apple does not announce iPhone battery capacity in mAh. Instead, the company uses usage timelines, such as the video playback time of each version. Therefore, when comparing battery capacity between generations, users often have to refer to data compiled by international technology sites.
According to data cited by Tom’s Guide, the battery capacity of iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 ProMax There are differences according to each market version. These numbers do not appear in Apple’s official specifications, but can be used as reference data when compared to actual battery life and the previous generation.
Difference in battery capacity between two generations
According to data cited by Tom’s Guide for the eSIM version in the North American market, iPhone 18 Pro has a battery capacity of 4,288mAh. Compared to the 4,252mAh capacity of the iPhone 17 Pro of the same version, the difference is about 1%. If only looking at this parameter, the increase of the standard Pro version is quite small and the improvement in usage time depends heavily on hardware and software performance.
The picture is completely different in the big screen version. iPhone 18 Pro Max has a capacity of 5,567mAh, an increase of 9.41% compared to 5,088mAh of iPhone 17 Pro Max. This is the largest increase in battery capacity in the entire product range this year, and explains why Apple is confident in increasing the video playback time for this version.
Actual usage time does not increase proportionally
A larger capacity battery does not necessarily mean longer usage time, and Tom’s Guide’s actual battery drain test clearly shows this. In the standard test, the iPhone 18 Pro lasted 16 hours and 17 minutes, about an hour more than the iPhone 17 Pro’s 15 hours and 17 minutes. The improvement is said to come from the better power consumption performance of the A20 Pro chip, not just the battery capacity.
The case of iPhone 18 Pro Max is more notable. Although the battery capacity increased by nearly 10% compared to the previous generation, the actual usage time only reached 18 hours and 27 minutes, not much higher than the 17 hours and 54 minutes of the iPhone 17 Pro Max. The gap of less than half an hour between the two generations shows that actual battery life also depends on many other factors such as screen brightness, 120Hz scanning frequency and chip processing intensity, not simply proportional to the mAh number.
Clearly distinguish between the North American version and the European version
One point to note is that all of the above 4,288mAh and 5,567mAh figures only apply to the North American version using eSIM, without a physical SIM slot. In Europe, because the device still retains the SIM slot, the frame has to make room for the tray, reducing the battery capacity to 4,056mAh in the Pro version and 5,391mAh in the Pro Max version. When reading international articles, users need to clearly distinguish these two sets of data.
Battery replacement fees also increased
At the same time as adjusting the battery capacity, Apple also increased the battery replacement fee outside the warranty period, applying a rate of 129 USD for both iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, an increase of 10 USD compared to 119 USD of the previous generation. The above fees are for reference only in the US market, the USD numbers in the article are not the selling prices in Vietnam.
Seen from the difference in battery capacity
Overall, the battery capacity data shows that the two Pro versions have quite different levels of change. The standard version only increased slightly compared to the previous generation, while the Pro Max increased by nearly 10%. This helps partly explain the gap in battery life between the two device sizes, although the actual experience still depends on the screen, chip, software and usage.
The fact that battery capacity increases are not proportional to actual usage time is a point to keep in mind when choosing a device: chip performance, software optimization and usage habits are still equally important as the mAh number. For those who are considering iPhone 18 Pro Max 256GB for long-lasting battery and a more compact version in the line iPhone 18these capacity figures can be used as a reference source in addition to actual usage results.
