My refurbished 2017 MacBook Air has lasted since I bought it, although its battery stopped holding a charge a year or two ago. It still works normally when plugged in and can even run The Sims 4 well. It has also survived plenty of drops with only a dented corner. Meanwhile, I've gone through three phones during the same period: an iPhone 7 that developed a boot-loop failure, an iPhone XR that became slow with poor battery life, and an iPhone 14 whose battery health is now at 76%. Why do MacBooks seem to remain usable longer than iPhones, especially when both can be expensive?
4 Answers
Laptops generally don’t get drained to zero every day, while phones often go through a full or near-full cycle daily. That adds up quickly, and phones are also carried everywhere, so they experience more drops, heat, cold, and constant handling.
Your MacBook isn’t completely healthy either—the battery has effectively failed—but it can still function as a plugged-in desktop. A phone can’t offer much of its main purpose once the battery becomes unreliable. At 76% health, the iPhone’s battery is probably the main problem, not necessarily the entire phone. Replacing it could give the device several more useful years.
The battery ratings aren’t exactly the same. Many iPhone batteries are designed to retain about 80% capacity after roughly 500 full charge cycles under ideal conditions, while that MacBook model is rated closer to 1,000 cycles. Heavy gaming and frequent charging can speed up wear, especially because phones have smaller batteries and less room to manage heat.
A laptop has more room for cooling, sturdier components, and usually isn’t exposed to as many drops or temperature changes as a phone. Phones pack everything into a much smaller space, so heat, impacts, and battery wear can affect them more quickly. Laptop software is also more flexible: even if a newer program stops working well, you can often use older or open-source software. Phones are more dependent on the operating system and current app support.
That could explain a lot. I’ve been playing demanding games on my iPhone, so it’s frustrating that the battery wears down so noticeably.