iPhone SE (2016) iPhone SE battery dropping to 1%

[mrochester]

Hi all.

My mum has my launch day iPhone SE. Last December she had the battery replaced when Apple were doing them for £25.

Just this week her phone has started to drop from a decent % down to 1% very suddenly. I can see in the 24hr battery stats that her phone dropped from about 52% to 1% at 7 this morning even though she was still asleep!

Under the battery health the battery is still showing as 100% with peak performance.

Anyone know what the problem might be?

Many thanks.

M.

 

[JPack]

If it isn't a rogue app, then it's usually damage to the power management IC. The chip can become damaged if the iPhone is plugged into a cheap USB charger.

 

[now i see it]

It could be that the battery level indicator was out of calibration. It's an estimate based on prior usage. In order for it to be kinda accurate, the battery needs to be fully discharged and charged twice so that it knows where the two limit points are.
Or your new battery is a dud

 

[mrochester]

If it isn't a rogue app, then it's usually damage to the power management IC. The chip can become damaged if the iPhone is plugged into a cheap USB charger.

Doesn’t look a rogue app and my mum uses the official charger and cable.
[automerge]1571850835[/automerge]

It could be that the battery level indicator was out of calibration. It's an estimate based on prior usage. In order for it to be kinda accurate, the battery needs to be fully discharged and charged twice so that it knows where the two limit points are.
Or your new battery is a dud

Ive asked her to continue using it next time it drops to 1% to see what happens.

 

[Juicy Box]

I have had this happen to two of my iPhones so far, and iPhone 6s Plus, and a SE. I also had shutdowns at random %, and sometimes sudden drop of the % only to be at 1% for a very long time.

Both was replaced using Apple Care+.

On both phones, the issue would be intermittent, and wasn't always predictable.

I don't think this is a permanent fix, but you could try letting the phone battery drain til it dies, and leave it on the charger until it gets to 100%, and maybe a little longer.

This seems to temporarily correct the issue for a while.

 

[aakshey]

Hi all.

My mum has my launch day iPhone SE. Last December she had the battery replaced when Apple were doing them for £25.

Just this week her phone has started to drop from a decent % down to 1% very suddenly. I can see in the 24hr battery stats that her phone dropped from about 52% to 1% at 7 this morning even though she was still asleep!

Under the battery health the battery is still showing as 100% with peak performance.

Anyone know what the problem might be?

Many thanks.

M.

Could be a battery or IC issue.

 

[Wando64]

If it isn't a rogue app, then it's usually damage to the power management IC. The chip can become damaged if the iPhone is plugged into a cheap USB charger.

is this a guess or do you have a source for this information?

 

[Janeilfen]

I have been through this whole sorry process with a 6S. Apple store checked battery twice and said it was fine. Got on to on-line support and they raised the issue with their technical guys. They sent them all the phone logs. Their response was fast. The store were wrong. The battery is knackered. Only option was to pay to have it replaced. So my original 6S battery was replaced after 2 years on an Apple recall. 18 months later this replacement battery is now dead. Not too impressed.

 

[lbdesign]

OP, what happened in the end? Did you find a solution? My SE is doing this now. From 80% to 1% in an hour. I wonder if it's a software fault. Latest iOS13 may be causing problems?

 

[tedley]

My wife's SE is doing the same exact thing. Drains fast and not all the time, just most of the time. Battery health is 91%. This is a replacement SE that she got over a year ago for the SAME issue. There are no rogue apps running.

This is extremely frustrating. I'm going to get her an iPhone 8. I have an 8+ and it battery performs well. Her hands are pretty small and I a + wont work for her, but at least she'll get better battery performance that she has with the SE I'm sick of this.

 

[hipnetic]

I just started a thread about this sort of thing (I should have done a search first and just bumped this thread). But I'm bumping it now, because I want to get a new SE and am worried that the battery life could suck as bad as my old SE.

As of right now, my old SE's Settings/Battery page is showing a Maximum Capacity of 91%, but also has this note under the "Peak Performance Capability" section:

This iPhone has experienced an unexpected shutdown because the battery was unable to deliver the necessary peak power. Performance management has been applied to help prevent this from happening again.

If it isn't a rogue app, then it's usually damage to the power management IC. The chip can become damaged if the iPhone is plugged into a cheap USB charger.

Can you elaborate on this? Inside my house I use multi-USB-port Anker chargers, which I believe are considered to be high-quality. Insider one of our cars I use an Anker charger, but with some no-name-brand USB-to-Lightning cable. In my FJ Cruiser I have a no-name-brand USB adapter that fits flush and is tied into a Sony CarPlay head unit.

Probably hard to diagnose whether any of those could cause a problem, but do you know if this should be less of a concern with the newer iPhones (like the just-announced new version of the iPhone SE)?

 

[jeyf]

If it isn't a rogue app, then it's usually damage to the power management IC. The chip can become damaged if the iPhone is plugged into a cheap USB charger.

its how you hold it (NOT)

 

[Lekro]

Actually it is the USB IC (AKA U2/Tristar) not the PMIC. A decent repair shop should have a Tristar tester to check.

Symptoms of bad Tristar:
- Charging indication but actually not charging
- Extremely rapid battery drain
- Random shutdowns
- Phone doesn’t turn on


What you describe however can be a bad battery too.

 

[hipnetic]

It could be that the battery level indicator was out of calibration. It's an estimate based on prior usage. In order for it to be kinda accurate, the battery needs to be fully discharged and charged twice so that it knows where the two limit points are.
Or your new battery is a dud

Just thought I'd post back here to say that I now think that the biggest problem with my old SE's battery may be a calibration issue. Over the last couple of weeks I've noticed it dropping down to 1% *VERY* fast, but then it manages to hold at that level and allow me to continue to use it for hours. So I've just started off the process of recalibrating it per your recommendation (and similar recommendations I've found online).

In the mean time, I did receive a new 2020 SE, which I'll probably be switching over to (but who knows for sure...I still like the older SE's size and one-handed usability better).

 

[lbdesign]

I've returned to this thread because my 2020 SE2 battery has started draining 2-3x faster than before. Battery Health says no apps are being particularly bad actors, and my battery capacity is 95%. Example: Battery charge went from 97% to 67% overnight, screen off and unused. 2 years ago, I joked about how curious it was that my original SE battery suddenly tanked just as Apple was about to announce the SE2. Now, after buying the SE2 2 years ago, as they are about to announce the SE3, my SE2 battery is tanking. Yes, it's 2 years older than when it was new. But hmm. I am careful about charging, never take it below 40%, and try not to bring it to 100% too often. Thoughts? Jokes?

 

[iHorseHead]

The same thing has happened to my sister who had iPhone SE and me who used iPhone 5s. That's the reason why I was afraid to buy a new iPhone as well and used Android for awhile. Sometimes my battery was 80% and then suddenly 1% and it shut itself down.
Me and my sister also replaced the batteries, yet the problem continued. Both of us got new iPhones.

My other friend that had iPhone SE as well had the same issue and even replaced her battery. She's using some Android phone now and said she'll never go back to iPhone.

 

[Taz Mangus]

I've returned to this thread because my 2020 SE2 battery has started draining 2-3x faster than before. Battery Health says no apps are being particularly bad actors, and my battery capacity is 95%. Example: Battery charge went from 97% to 67% overnight, screen off and unused. 2 years ago, I joked about how curious it was that my original SE battery suddenly tanked just as Apple was about to announce the SE2. Now, after buying the SE2 2 years ago, as they are about to announce the SE3, my SE2 battery is tanking. Yes, it's 2 years older than when it was new. But hmm. I am careful about charging, never take it below 40%, and try not to bring it to 100% too often. Thoughts? Jokes?

Maybe try doing a battery calibration and see if that helps. Because of how fast your battery is draining it sounds like it could need to be recalibrated. Others have reported such issues fixed by recalibration.

How to Calibrate an iPhone's Battery in 6 Easy Steps

Here’s how to calibrate your iPhone’s battery and why it’s worth doing every so often. The benefits could surprise you!

www.makeuseof.com

 

[lbdesign]

Maybe try doing a battery calibration and see if that helps. Because of how fast your battery is draining it sounds like it could need to be recalibrated. Others have reported such issues fixed by recalibration.

How to Calibrate an iPhone's Battery in 6 Easy Steps

Here’s how to calibrate your iPhone’s battery and why it’s worth doing every so often. The benefits could surprise you!

www.makeuseof.com

Thank you! But oh dear, isn't this bad for the battery to run it to zero and shutdown multiple times? It causes structural changes in the battery that further reduce capacity.

 

[lbdesign]

The same thing has happened to my sister who had iPhone SE and me who used iPhone 5s. That's the reason why I was afraid to buy a new iPhone as well and used Android for awhile. Sometimes my battery was 80% and then suddenly 1% and it shut itself down.
Me and my sister also replaced the batteries, yet the problem continued. Both of us got new iPhones.

My other friend that had iPhone SE as well had the same issue and even replaced her battery. She's using some Android phone now and said she'll never go back to iPhone.

I've had a 5s, SE(1), and now SE2. They all seem to have battery-aged faster than I recall previous iPhone models aging. Of course they all have relatively small batteries. But I have a 4s that's still going... (as my alarm clock).

 

[Taz Mangus]

Thank you! But oh dear, isn't this bad for the battery to run it to zero and shutdown multiple times? It causes structural changes in the battery that further reduce capacity.

It is in most cases but you aren’t going to do the recalibration that often. Others have reported that doing the recalibration resolved an issue much like you are having.