iPad Pro Does the M2 iPad Pro have noticeably worse battery life than the M1?

[zach-coleman]

The M2 has a higher power draw and they both have the same battery. Is it noticeably shorter, or is it just a few minutes?

 

[savagewatts]

I notice 0 difference between my M1 and M2.

 

[anthony13]

I do not understand the battery life drain on my M2. I charge it to full, throw it in my bag, take it out in the evening if I didn’t use it all day, and it’s drained below 50%. I’ve had it for over a month, so it’s not like its initial set up things. It does have cellular. But this drain is consistent. Basically whenever i take it out, it’s very low. Pretty disappointing. Especially because i went all out on this, (max storage).

 

[Frankras]

I do not understand the battery life drain on my M2. I charge it to full, throw it in my bag, take it out in the evening if I didn’t use it all day, and it’s drained below 50%. I’ve had it for over a month, so it’s not like its initial set up things. It does have cellular. But this drain is consistent. Basically whenever i take it out, it’s very low. Pretty disappointing. Especially because i went all out on this, (max storage).

Try to shut the ipad completely down. Wait a minute or so. Start it up again and see if its gets better over time.

 

[RRC]

If your cellular signal is weak and it’s searching for one it will eat battery. Maybe try turning your data off or leaving it on wifi only and seeing if it uses the same excessive battery.

 

[darngooddesign]

I do not understand the battery life drain on my M2. I charge it to full, throw it in my bag, take it out in the evening if I didn’t use it all day, and it’s drained below 50%. I’ve had it for over a month, so it’s not like its initial set up things. It does have cellular. But this drain is consistent. Basically whenever i take it out, it’s very low. Pretty disappointing. Especially because i went all out on this, (max storage).

Try putting it in Low Power Mode. If that fixes it then your hardware is fine and something software is culprit; maybe notifications or background refresh on an app is doing it.

 

[richpjr]

I got a new M2 iPad a month or so ago and my M1 got handed down to the family and I notice a significant difference in battery life with the M2 being noticeably worse. Both are wifi models and never leave the house. I'm not sure what it is as I use the new the same way as I did the old - mainly for reading with the Kindle app, checking email, surfing the web and an occasional game. Last night I charged it to 100%, read on the Kindle app for about 30 minutes and this morning it is down to 62%. I don't see any rogue background tasks in the Battery app so I'm not sure what it is other than the M2 chip must use a heck of a lot more juice than the M1.

 

[FeliApple]

I got a new M2 iPad a month or so ago and my M1 got handed down to the family and I notice a significant difference in battery life with the M2 being noticeably worse. Both are wifi models and never leave the house. I'm not sure what it is as I use the new the same way as I did the old - mainly for reading with the Kindle app, checking email, surfing the web and an occasional game. Last night I charged it to 100%, read on the Kindle app for about 30 minutes and this morning it is down to 62%. I don't see any rogue background tasks in the Battery app so I'm not sure what it is other than the M2 chip must use a heck of a lot more juice than the M1.

Can you share a screenshot of the last 24 hours screen on Settings-Battery? What’s the brightness set at?

 

[UltimateSyn]

I do not understand the battery life drain on my M2. I charge it to full, throw it in my bag, take it out in the evening if I didn’t use it all day, and it’s drained below 50%. I’ve had it for over a month, so it’s not like its initial set up things. It does have cellular. But this drain is consistent. Basically whenever i take it out, it’s very low. Pretty disappointing. Especially because i went all out on this, (max storage).

Maybe try shutting off Cellular when you're not actively using it? I know searching for signal can drain a boatload of battery.

 

[richpjr]

Can you share a screenshot of the last 24 hours screen on Settings-Battery? What’s the brightness set at?

Not in front of it to take a battery snapshot, but I'll do that later. Brightness is at 50$%.

 

[FeliApple]

Not in front of it to take a battery snapshot, but I'll do that later. Brightness is at 50$%.

That part is fine then. No problem, whenever you can and if you want to!

 

[papbot]

Last night I charged it to 100%, read on the Kindle app for about 30 minutes and this morning it is down to 62%

That would be unusual, although I will say the Kindle app is probably my biggest battery drain. But anything that keeps the screen on for an extended time will eat up the battery and I do a lot of reading on that app on my 12.9 cellular M2. But battery life overall is outstanding. Take it off the charger, check it 12 hours later and it's still at 100%. But it's rare that I leave it alone for 12 hours and usually read for an hour or two on Kindle in addition to all the other uses but never finish the day at less than 40%. I'd say that’s identical to what I experienced on the M1 version.

 

[Wokis]

M2 having higher peak power draw does not necessarily translate into worse battery life because typically an iPad isn't running full tilt. The great improvement in M2 were the efficiency cores ability to do more with less draw or rather less reliance on having to use the big cores, so ideally the battery life should improve.

 

[richpjr]

It appears as if just leaving the Kindle app and Safari open is causing the drain. The past couple of nights I have closed both after using the iPad and the battery is only down a couple of percent overnight. Never had to do that on my M1 iPad - not sure if it is the iPad or maybe recent OS changes.

 

[Jackbequickly]

Very little, if any, difference from my M1 to my M2 iPad Pro

 

[1BadManVan]

I do not understand the battery life drain on my M2. I charge it to full, throw it in my bag, take it out in the evening if I didn’t use it all day, and it’s drained below 50%. I’ve had it for over a month, so it’s not like its initial set up things. It does have cellular. But this drain is consistent. Basically whenever i take it out, it’s very low. Pretty disappointing. Especially because i went all out on this, (max storage).

Definitely not the experience ive had with my m1 iPad. has great standby time.

 

[mshepherd]

I recently got an M1 iPad and thought I would like the keyboard folio case. I noticed it drains the battery pretty bad even on standby. My solution was to get a non keyboard case.

 

[Jackbequickly]

I recently got an M1 iPad and thought I would like the keyboard folio case. I noticed it drains the battery pretty bad even on standby. My solution was to get a non keyboard case.

‘yes, it has been reported that the keyboard folio case does consume a good bit of power. I love mine but mainly use it on the charger. Great keyboard.

 

[Ifti]

Does the magic keyboard also drain battery?? I would have thought it would consume nothing while closed etc and would switch itself off?
I have even turned off the back light on the keyboard since I don't need it - the light from the screen is enough to illuminate the keys for me most of the time anyways.

For my M2 iPad Pro 12.9, in Magic Keyboard case, standby time seems OK, but while using I see the percentage roll down! I understand that for times when I'm using a 3D modelling app for instance, but not for when just browsing online or checking emails etc.....
I just put it down to me getting too used to the excellent battery life on the MacBook Air I replaced for this iPad....

 

[papbot]

Does the magic keyboard also drain battery?? I would have thought it would consume nothing while closed etc and would switch itself off?

I've not found the Magic Keyboard to contribute to any battery drain when my wifi + cellular iPP is in standby. on the very rare occasions that I take the device off the charger in the morning and then 8 hours later open it up it's still at 100%. That’s the same if I have no keyboard attached. I had the M1 12.9 iPP and now have the M2 version. Standby battery life is outstanding. While using it battery life varies according to my usage, more so than on my MacBook Air, but that’s not unusual.

 

[richpjr]

I keep a Magic Keyboard on my 12.9 all the time and have never notice a bad battery drain. Perhaps the bigger battery masks it. On my M2 11" I never use a keyboard with it so it sure seems like the apps or OS causing it. Maybe I'll try a factory reset and restore just for fun (seems like a good use of time during boring meetings at work! )

 

[Ponylover52]

New iPad Pro 11” and definitely notice increased draining on standby. Appears to be related to find my app. Excited to get iPadOS 16.3 next week.

 

[papbot]

New iPad Pro 11” and definitely notice increased draining on standby. Appears to be related to find my app. Excited to get iPadOS 16.3 next week.

I have Find on for all devices and my wife, and myself. I have absolutely no standby battery drain on my iPad Pro. 16.2 fixed the only issues I was having on my iPad, none related to battery. I would look for some other cause. I’ve seen people mention Find a lot because they see that arrow, which is actually meaningless. Their issue is most likely something else but since they see that arrow they jump to that conclusion. I’ve got just about every location service feature enabled on my phone and iPad. No battery issues.

 

[eicca]

What kind of battery life are you all seeing? I was searching for real-world reports before I bought my M1 12.9 and regularly saw people report only 6-8 hours screen-on time.

I hit 6 hours of screen-on time yesterday and still have 65% left. 🤷‍♂️

 

[papbot]

I hit 6 hours of screen-on time yesterday and still have 65% left. 🤷‍♂️

That sounds very good! Might be better than mine🤷‍♂️ But I have no complaints and use mine all day long. I’m retired so a lot of “down” time available to be on it.