Despite previous reports saying the iPhone 18 Pro range will see only fractional improvements to battery life, a cautious leaker now claims that might not be the case with the iPhone 18 Pro Max.
| Model | US | China |
| iPhone 18 Pro Max | 5,391 mAh | 5,567 mAh |
| iPhone 17 Pro Max | 4,823 mAh | 5,088 mAh |
| iPhone 18 Pro | 4,288 mAh | 4,056 mAh |
| iPhone 17 Pro | 4,252 mAh | 3,988 mAh |
In February 2026, it was reported that the iPhone 18 Pro Max would have a 5,000mAh battery in China, and between 5,100mAh and 5,200mAh in the US where Apple no longer has to make room for a SIM card.
For comparison, the Chinese iPhone 17 Pro Max has a 4,823mAh battery. The US model has a 5,088mAh one.
The fact that this increase was slight was then backed up by another source with the same details in June 2026, but now a new leak says these figures may be too conservative.
According to Digital Chat Station on Weibo, figures in China's regulatory database say that for the US versions, the iPhone 18 Pro Max battery is 5,567mAh.
That's an increase on the current iPhone 17 Pro Max of around 9.5%. Compared to the previous estimate, which was the equivalent of about 2%, that's a significant increase.
However, both the old and the new figures come from the same leaker, Digital Chat Station, who only has a sporadic track record.
iPhone 18 Pro
But then in this case, the leaker is skeptical about the figures they've found for this model. That may be in part because figures from the same source back up the earlier expectation of only a minor battery update in the iPhone 18 Pro.
According to the leaker, the Chinese regulatory filing says the US versions of the iPhone 18 Pro will have a 4,288 mAh battery compared to the iPhone 17 Pro's 4,252.
Separately, in February 2026 it was claimed that the iPhone Fold would have Apple's biggest ever battery capacity. No figures were given, and it would depend on case design, but it is possible.
