How Much Battery Life Does iOS 26's Adaptive Power Feature Really Save?

It won't be long before iPhone users can download iOS 26. With iOS 26 beta 8 and IOS 26 public beta 5 now available to testers, Apple likely only has the Release Candidate (RC) version to ship before the final build launches in September.

That said, it's very unlikely that Apple between now and September 15, which is when we expect iOS 26 to be officially released. While we have tested several of the new features coming in Apple's new software updates, one that stood out and deserved a more thorough examination was Adaptive Power Mode, which rumors suggest could be a vital addition for the iPhone 17 Air.

Apple says that with Adaptive Power Mode activated, the iPhone can extend battery life by making performance adjustments when the battery usage is higher than normal, such as lowering the display brightness, slowing down certain activities, or turning on Low Power Mode at 20%. However, after a few weeks of testing, Adaptive Power Mode made little to no difference on the battery life of an iPhone 16 Pro Max.

The tricky thing about testing iOS 26's Adaptive Power Mode is that the operating system is still in beta testing. While Apple has improved the overall experience significantly in recent beta releases, test builds are expected to have battery draining issues. As such, there's always a chance that the feature will have a more noticeable impact in the final version of iOS 26.

While we can't promise iOS 26 will deliver better battery life than iOS 18, there's also no evidence so far that it has a negative impact on the battery. What we did notice, however, is that apart from the occasional notification confirming that Adaptive Power Mode was active, triggered by what was happening on the iPhone's display, we still had to charge the device at least twice a day just to make it to bedtime.

In general, we've seen the display dimming in outdoor environments with a combination of Apple Maps usage, music streaming, and warm weather. However, this already happened whenever the iPhone started to overheat. Long story short, the only real benefit of the Adaptive Power Mode feature has been the automatic Low Power Mode activation at 20%.

Adaptive Power Mode is likely to be a key feature for the ultra-thin iPhone 17 Air, which is rumored to feature a smaller battery than the other iPhone 17 models. That said, there are only two notable features beyond battery size that differentiate an iPhone 16 Pro Max from the upcoming iPhone 17 Air: A more efficient processor and Apple's C1 5G modem.

Cellular connectivity is known to be one of the greatest causes of excessive battery life drain. With a more power efficient chip and better control of the 5G modem, the Adaptive Power Mode functionality might work better on an iPhone 17 Air than on the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which has a bigger battery but a third-party 5G modem and an older processor.

While we'll have to wait until after the "Awe Dropping" event on September 9 to see how the iPhone 17 Air interacts with the final version of the feature, Adaptive Power Mode hasn't made the greatest first impression on iOS 26 beta testers.