iPhone 11 Pro Max teardown reveals its surprisingly big battery capacity

iPhone 11 Pro Max
(Image credit: Future)

Apple doesn't reveal the battery sizes of its iPhones, instead leaving us to guess, but a teardown of the iPhone 11 Pro Max has revealed it has around a 4,000mAh battery – that's surprisingly big for an Apple smartphone.

The teardown comes from Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, where a user posted pictures of a dissected iPhone 11 Pro Max. 

These photos show the Taptic Engine, the three cameras, various bits of hardware and more, but the thing taking up all the space is the iPhone 11 Pro Max battery, a giant L-shaped block taking up most of the inside space of the phone.

At 4,000mAh (technically 3,969mAh, but most people tend to round up), this is the biggest battery Apple has put in one of its smartphones. In fact, that battery's pretty impressive even compared to non-Apple handsets, and it's arguably the first time Apple has taken battery capacity very seriously.

In comparison, the iPhone XS has a 2,658mAh battery, and the iPhone XS Max's power pack is 3,174mAh, so the iPhone 11 Pro Max really is a big step up.

The reason for this could be that the iPhone 11 Pro Max was supposed to feature reverse wireless charging, which lets it power up other devices wirelessly, but the feature was dropped very last minute. This hasn't been confirmed, but it's a popular rumor floating around, and the battery size backs it up.

Then again, a phone with a 6.5-inch screen, high-end chipset and three rear cameras likely needs a bigger battery in order to have a decent battery life.

We don't yet know the battery sizes for the iPhone 11 or iPhone 11 Pro. An earlier leak put them at a 3,110mAh and 3,190mAh respectively, but also claimed the iPhone 11 Pro Max had a 3,500mAh one, so that casts doubt on all the sizes.

However, when people tear those other two models down too we'll find out for sure, so stay tuned to TechRadar for all the latest developments.

Via GSMArena

Tom Bedford
Contributor

Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.


He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist. He also currently works in film as a screenwriter, director and producer.