Like for every ‘S’ year, the new iPhone XS is pretty much an incremental spec-bump update to last year’s original iPhone X (faster processors and wireless connectivity, higher memory capacity, more waterproof, video stabilization, dual SIM).
Despite the many improvements, the iPhone XS has the same back glass construction than the iPhone 8 and iPhone X, which means that one tiny crack on the back will cost you $549 to repair it if you don’t have AppleCare+ coverage.
After the notch on a display, Apple added a notch on its new battery
However, this year, Apple completely redesigned the battery of the iPhone XS with a new single-cell L-shaped battery – instead of a 2-cell battery in the original iPhone X – that surprisingly packs less power (10.13 Wh vs 10.35 Wh) and could be more sensitive to stress if it was not for another Apple innovation: The ‘notch’.
“The challenge with any lithium-polymer battery cell is that each corner needs to be sealed to prevent undue stress from thermal expansion – and since the battery of the XS has 6 sides vs. the traditional 4, those extra corners can be tricky,” wrote Kay-Kay Clap, the director of communications at iFixit that did the teardown. ” To reduce the stress on the corners, Apple notched the internal corner of the battery (as described in this 2016 patent).
The notch in this new single-cell battery might help explained the capacity drop – which is really a bummer as we expect more battery life, not less, from a next-generation device.
“Only time will tell how this new cell performs with age – both of these batteries are still limited to 500 charge cycles,” concluded Clap.
