iOS 26 AI Battery Management Feature May Launch With iPhone 17 Air

[MacRumors]

Apple's rumored AI-powered battery management feature may not be announced at WWDC as part of iOS 26, with Apple potentially launching the tool in tandem with the release of the iPhone 17 Air in September. That's according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who made the prediction while hosting a Discord chat over the weekend.

Gurman reported in May that Apple plans to use AI to help you better manage your iPhone's battery life. iOS 26 will have an AI-powered battery management option that will analyze how you use your device and make adjustments where possible to cut down on battery usage.

According to the report, the battery option will be included in the Apple Intelligence suite of features, with Apple drawing on battery data that it has collected from users over time. The battery mode will be able to cut the power draw of apps and other system features based on device usage, and it will also include a Lock Screen indicator that shows how long it will take an ‌iPhone‌ charge.

Gurman has previously acknowledged that the new battery management tool was designed with the super-slim iPhone 17 Air in mind, but this is the first time he has suggested the feature may not arrive until the device is released later in the fall.

Apple's new ultra-thin ‌iPhone‌ doesn't have as much space for a battery inside, and some rumors have suggested that the ‌iPhone 17 Air‌'s battery will not be up to par with the battery life of other iPhone 17 models. Apple plans to improve ‌iPhone 17 Air‌ battery life with the AI optimizations, though the feature set will be available for all iPhones that are able to run iOS 26.

Article Link: iOS 26 AI Battery Management Feature May Launch With iPhone 17 Air

 

[F23]

"Hey Siri how long until fully charged?"

Setting a timer for 45 minutes, expect some rain tonight.

 

[Kottu]

This function will not work on older phones (including iPhone 16) as it needs a dedicated chip on the battery. ”It is the most sophisticated chip in the world with 1 trillion transistors and own neural engine with 24 teraflops calculating speed. We call it Apple B1”

 

[mazz0]

They should use “AI” to generate marketing guff about “AI” features. Assuming they don’t already.

Seriously, if this has a greater than 5% effect on battery life I’ll eat my hat*.

*I don’t own a hat.

 

[lindros2]

Physics > AI

 

[Sensamic]

Oh, so the next iOS update will be released in September, alongside the new iPhones, just like over the past 10 years?

Great guess, German...

 

[bluecoast]

"Hey Siri how long until fully charged?"

Setting a timer for 45 minutes, expect some rain tonight.

'Here's what I found on the Internet:'

 

[TheMacPotato]

"Hey Siri how long until fully charged?"

Setting a timer for 45 minutes, expect some rain tonight.

""Hey Siri how long until fully charged?"

Here are some results I have found on the web for ""how long until fully charged?"

 

[dumastudetto]

This function will not work on older phones (including iPhone 16) as it needs a dedicated chip on the battery. ”It is the most sophisticated chip in the world with 1 trillion transistors and own neural engine with 24 teraflops calculating speed. We call it Apple B1”

If they are not announcing it as an iOS 26 feature, then very likely hardware limitations mean they cannot offer it on current iPhones. While this is unfortunate, we can always upgrade.

 

[cicalinarrot]

AI or not, I think the thin iPhone is gonna last 45 minutes as a GPS navigator...

 

[ifxf]

So I will need to dedicate 5Gb disk or more of disk space if I want battery optimization.

 

[kiranmk2]

This function will not work on older phones (including iPhone 16) as it needs a dedicated chip on the battery. ”It is the most sophisticated chip in the world with 1 trillion transistors and own neural engine with 24 teraflops calculating speed. We call it Apple B1”

Very likely (the first bit, anyway) - apparently you needed an iPhone 15 to specify a maximum charge level, so no doubt you will need an iPhone 17 for the NPU to learn you usage patterns and tweak the clock speeds/power draw...

 

[Falco McGregor]

Oh, so the next iOS update will be released in September, alongside the new iPhones, just like over the past 10 years?

Great guess, German...

You have to admire Gurman’s ability to contort language to say the same thing nine different ways to fill dead air.

 

[Moukee]

This function will not work on older phones (including iPhone 16) as it needs a dedicated chip on the battery. ”It is the most sophisticated chip in the world with 1 trillion transistors and own neural engine with 24 teraflops calculating speed. We call it Apple B1”

"Oh, and because the chip is on the battery, battery replacements will cost $200 and third party batteries will no longer function."

 

[markgpearse]

'Here's what I found on the Internet:'

Would you like me to ask ChatGPT?

 

[klasma]

Makes sense, it's the iPhone AI🅁 after all.

 

[Werner Vienna]

every if-then-else these days is AI. In the near future, every electronic kitchen scale that switches off automatically after use will be AI powered...

 

[yeah]

Just give us a bigger battery damn!

 

[BarrettF77]

If this turns out to be true I am officially done with this brand. The did jack and **** for iPhone 16 users and hailed it as AI central. And if a Mac from 10 years ago can tell me how long it will be full but a iPhone 16 pro cannot, this is not the brand for me.

Sad this is what it takes now for Apple to get its customers to upgrade.

Guess this may backfire by us selling our stuff off and going to Android. What a trash brand they have become.

 

[platinumaqua]

What happened to the KISS principle of doing things?

 

[cjsuk]

It’s bad enough when I find that the battery is at 80% and stopped there for some reason because I thinks I am going to be in the next day. But you know I’m really getting up at 5AM to catch a plane and I need it at 100%.

Add AI it’s never going to be even that consistently annoying. It’ll be worse.

All the good new features in tech these days are switches to turn the previous new misfeatures off.

 

[miq]

This sounds like a feature that Android OS has had built in for many years, without the ‘AI’ marketing fluff.

 

[SactoGuy18]

I think the AI powered battery management feature will be part of any iPhone that can run Apple Intelligence. That means the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max and all iPhone 16/16 Pro models will get the feature running iOS 26.x versions.

 

[Compote]

Why is it "iOS 26"... Oh the year. Of course.

 

[FlavorfulTreat]

AI battery charging, come on.

Just slap some buzzwords on that box! That’ll do it. And since there are no rules on what AI means or how companies are allowed to use those terms these aren’t “innovations”, they aren’t really anything.