The first thing iFixit noticed when they tore apart their iPhone X were two lithium-ion batteries powering this phone—a first in an iPhone—both of which are rated higher than the cells providing power to iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus.
According to TechInsights, it’s this second battery that adds about two more hours of use time than iPhone 7 even if it’s unclear as to where the extra use time is spent.
If you check out Apple’s website, you’ll notice that iPhone X is estimated to have the same talk time, but less Internet and video playback time than iPhone 8 Plus (and same as iPhone 7). The two-cell battery is rated at 10.35 watt-hours (2,716 mAh at 3.81 V), almost on par with a 3.82 V, 2,691 mAh cell providing 10.28 Wh of power to iPhone 8 Plus.
Stacked up against the much bigger Galaxy Note 8, it’s lightweight: Samsung’s phone has a massive cell providing 12.71 Wh (3,300 mAh at 3.85 V) of power. For those wondering, iPhone 7 Plus boasts a 3.82 V, 2,900 mAh cell coming in at 11.1 Wh.
“Lest you worry about the hard hit to the battery spec, Apple promises the battery life will remain a contender with last year’s model,” notes iFixit. Like with iPhone 8, the iPhone X battery comes with four adhesive tabs versus two in prior years.
Not only does switching to four tabs from two make removing it easier than before, but helps “avoid a sticky situation on that fancy new wireless charging coil,” in iFixit’s own words.
Lastly, even though the battery connector still uses common Phillips/JIS fasteners, you’ll still need up to four different drivers for many repairs, iFixit has discovered.
Although Apple has made battery and display replacements a priority with this phone, iFixit gave it a six out of ten on its repairability scale because the internal layout isn’t very modular and the back glass replacement procedure is really complicated.
Thoughts?