How Apple’s Always-on Display Impacts iPhone 14 Pro Battery

The always-on display is one of the highlights of the iPhone 14 Pro. With it, however, the power consumption also increases, as many users had to find out painfully. After various optimizations by Apple, the question of how much battery the feature consumes has now been clarified.

An essential function in the Android camp for years, Apple has only been talking about it since last fall – the always-on display (AOD). The permanently active screen with compact information about the time, date, notifications, etc. has many advantages, with slight cuts in terms of battery life. At least that’s the theory. However, users of the iPhone 14 Pro (Max) criticized Apple for the effect that the simultaneous display of a darkened wallpaper would consume too much power.

As early as mid-December, the developers found a suitable solution with iOS 16.2 and since then have been offering the always-on function not only with an active wallpaper but also with a classic black background. The PhoneBuff YouTube channel currently explains how this affects battery life. In flight mode, with a display brightness of 200 nits and a room brightness of 1000 lux (bright office room), the iPhone 14 Pro Max is put to the test with its 4323 mAh battery.

The first conclusion after 24 hours: With an active wallpaper, the always-on display consumes around 0.8 percent of the battery per hour and thus 16 percent per day. The black background reduces consumption to 0.6 percent per hour and 14 percent per day. When completely deactivated, the iPhone 14 Pro Max can maintain its 100 percent charge for a whole day thanks to Airplane mode. The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra performs similarly. After an always-on day, you also end up at 84 percent.

Real conditions with more running time

In practice, however, things look slightly different. As PhoneBuff states, the iPhone 14 Pro (Max) always-on display is automatically disabled in many situations to save battery. For example in your trouser pocket, when placing it on the side of the display, when the focus or power- saving mode is active, when using CarPlay or if the user is away from the smartphone for a longer period of time with their connected Apple Watch.