Paul Morris·

iOS 13.4 Battery Life Drain Comparison Against iOS 13.3.1

Here’s iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 battery life drain comparison against iOS 13.3.1 firmware on and iPhone or iPad device.

We expect Apple to release iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 into production early next week but developers and external testers already have access to the GM seeds of those platforms. And, in true fashion, the battery life and performance of what is going to be the final build has been pitted against the current public version, iOS/iPadOS 13.3.1.

This a test that has been happening for as long as we care to remember. Yes; consumers and device owners are interested in new features and having access to new functionality. But, if pushed, those same consumers would likely argue that they’d take stability and equal or improved battery life and performance over the addition of spurious forward-facing changes. In short, if new features mean that the performance is degraded, then that’s no good!

These tests are essentially designed to see how the incoming version compares against the version that the public have been living with for a period of time. The YouTube channel in question running the tests in this instance puts iOS 13.3.1 and iOS 13.4 GM on an array of devices – iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone XR, and iPhone 11 – and then tests the battery life and performance of both firmware versions across all devices to see how they compare.

The results are somewhat of a mixed bag. If we take the iPhone 8 for example, on iOS 13.3.1 the battery lasted for 3-hours and 27-minutes under test and for 3-hours 20-minutes on the iOS 13.4 GM, so there is a definite degradation in that sense. With that said, on iPhone XR, the device running iOS 13.4 GM managed to last slightly longer than iOS 13.3.1, with an extra 8-minutes of battery life being offered. A difference of a few minutes seems to be the norm across all devices, with iOS 13.3.1 battery life seeming to perform better than its newer counterpart.

In terms of the performance score, it also seems that there isn’t one single winner in that sense either. Many feel that a particular version of firmware needs time to settle on the device after installation, so things may change in the near future after release, but for now, it looks as though your experience could be hit and miss if you opt to install iOS 13.4 when it is released.

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