iPhone 17 Pro Max's Battery Life Could've Been Even Better Without iOS 26's Liquid Glass, Experiment Shows

The iPhone 17 models feature better battery life than their predecessors, with the iPhone 17 Pro Max offering the best possible experience. Apple's largest iPhone has an even larger battery pack than its predecessors – especially on the eSIM-only variant. Apple has made good use of the space previously occupied by the physical SIM card to extend the battery size. That said, a few early tests have also shown that the Liquid Glass design in iOS 26 drains the battery much faster than iOS 18. A recent comparison showed that an iPhone 16 Pro Max would use 13% of the battery while performing routine actions, such as accessing the notification center, opening and closing apps, scrolling, and unlocking the iPhone. The same handset consumed just 1% of energy during the same actions in iOS 18.

This brings us to a different battery test that involves the iPhone 17 Pro Max and iOS 26. Reddit user MarionberryDear6170 devised a test that shows Liquid Glass is a "crazy battery nightmare" on the brand-new phone. The test follows the user's iOS 26 beta experience on the iPhone 15 Pro Max, which led to major heat and battery drain. The Redditor showed how much power various actions consume on the new phone and that the Reduce Transparency feature will not reduce power draw. He also proved that you can extend the iPhone 17 Pro Max's battery life significantly, though most users may not like the fix.

The Redditor's experiment involves limiting charging to 80% and performing a set of actions on the iPhone 17 Pro Max while it's connected to a charger, with a power meter registering the energy draw in real time. The test shows how much power the iPhone 17 Pro Max would draw for various actions. Here are a few examples:

• Invoking the Control Center: 8-9W
• Capturing photos: 8-9W
• Taking screenshots: 7-17W
• Using Apple Maps: 8-9W
• Screen recording: 5-6W while idling and up to 9-11W when scrolling

The video above also shows that using clear icons in iOS 26 further increases the power draw. Surprisingly, enabling the Reduce Transparency mode consumes up to 1W extra for all the actions. Low Power Mode seems to be the only "fix" that reduces energy consumption, with the power draw dropping below 5W for the same actions. Enabling Low Power Mode extended the screen-on time significantly, with the user getting 10 hours of use compared to 6.5 hours without it. The problem with this fix is that Low Power Mode alters the entire iPhone experience. It reduces the display brightness, lowers the refresh rate to 60Hz, limits 5G connectivity, and restricts background activity. Thankfully, the iPhone 17 Pro Max's battery life is excellent as is, so users wouldn't have to resort to using the Low Power Mode often.