Just ahead of Apple unveiling the iPhone 17 series on Tuesday, it appears that battery capacities for the devices have surfaced in a Chinese regulatory database.
The table below lists the alleged battery capacities for each model, which were shared in a post on X today by an account known as ShrimpApplePro.
The database suggests that the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will be available with and without a physical SIM card tray, depending on the country of sale. On the other hand, the base-model iPhone 17 might have only one battery size, as only a single capacity for that device has been discovered so far.
Given the SIM card tray takes up some space inside an iPhone, the models with it appear to have slightly lower battery capacities than eSIM-only variants.
| Model | With SIM Card Tray | Without | YoY Increase (Maximum) |
|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 17 | 3,692 mAh | +3.7% | |
| iPhone Air | 3,036 mAh | 3,149 mAh | — |
| iPhone 17 Pro | 3,988 mAh | 4,252 mAh | +18.7% |
| iPhone 17 Pro Max | 4,823 mAh | 5,088 mAh | +8.6% |
MacRumors has independently confirmed that some of these battery listings are present in the Chinese regulatory database shown in the screenshot, but we cannot explicitly say that they are for the iPhone 17 models, as Apple stopped using obvious "A####" identifiers for iPhone batteries a few years ago. However, we do believe there is a good chance these are in fact the battery capacities for the iPhone 17 series.
Here are the battery capacities for all iPhone 16 models:
| Model | With and Without SIM Card Tray |
|---|---|
| iPhone 16 | 3,561 mAh |
| iPhone 16 Plus | 4,674 mAh |
| iPhone 16 Pro | 3,582 mAh |
| iPhone 16 Pro Max | 4,685 mAh |
Apple removed the SIM card tray in the U.S. starting with the iPhone 14 series, but it has simply put a piece of plastic where the tray used to be inside those devices. As a result, all iPhone 14 through iPhone 16 models sold in the U.S. have the same battery capacities as the equivalent models sold in other countries.
It was previously rumored that Apple plans to eliminate the SIM card tray from iPhones in more countries beyond the U.S. this year, but it might continue to exist in some countries, due to limited eSIM availability or other factors. For example, some iPhone 17 models might still have a SIM card slot in China, due to local regulations.
Notably, the iPhone 17 Air is the model that is most expected to lack a physical SIM card slot in many countries, due to its ultra-thin design with limited internal space.
A few takeaways based on these alleged capacities:
- It looks like the smaller iPhone 17 Pro will be receiving a significant boost in battery life, with a nearly 19% increase in capacity over the iPhone 16 Pro.
- As rumored, the iPhone 17 Pro Max would become the first iPhone model to cross the 5,000 mAh battery capacity mark. With a 5,088 mAh battery, the device would have a around an 8% larger battery compared to the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
- Another rumor that appears to be accurate is the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air having around a 3,000 mAh battery capacity, which is on the lower side for an iPhone. However, the device will benefit from Apple's power-efficient C1 modem for cellular connectivity, and Apple reportedly plans to release an iPhone 17 Air battery case.
Given that Apple is now required to show an energy label on its iPhone product pages in the EU, official mAh battery capacities might be published later this week.
As always, you can only directly compare mAh values when the batteries have the same voltage, with Wh a preferred unit of measurement. iPhone batteries typically do have the same voltage, allowing for mAh comparisons.
