Apple’s iPhone Duo ships Friday, Oct. 23, and it has one of the biggest batteries the company has ever put in an iPhone.
The Duo packs a 4,883 mAh battery, according to data from GSMarena. That’s more capacity than every iPhone released since the iPhone 13, with three exceptions: the eSIM-only iPhone 17 Pro Max and both versions of the iPhone 18 Pro Max. It's an impressive phone, so impressive it immediately sold out after Apple opened it up for pre-orders.
The foldable ships Friday, Oct. 23, and Mashable’s full review is on the way. To see how its battery capacity stacks up, we compared it with that of every iPhone from the iPhone 13 onward. The iPhone 13 is still one of the most widely used iPhones, making it a natural baseline for anyone considering an upgrade.
SIM vs. eSIM
Starting with the iPhone 17 lineup, battery capacity on some Pro models depends on which version you buy. Versions that drop the physical SIM card tray and run on eSIM only have extra internal space, which Apple uses for a larger battery.
The difference is significant. The eSIM-only iPhone 17 Pro Max has a 5,088 mAh battery, while the version with a SIM tray has a 4,823 mAh battery. Apple says the Duo is an eSIM-only device.
However, a bigger battery doesn’t automatically mean longer battery life. How long a phone lasts also depends on how efficiently its processor uses power and how well the software is tuned to the hardware. A phone with a smaller battery but a more efficient chip can outlast one with more capacity.
The Duo vs. the field
Here’s how the Duo’s 4,883 mAh battery stacks up, ranked from highest capacity to lowest:
iPhone 18 Pro Max (eSIM): 5,567 mAh
iPhone 18 Pro Max (SIM): 5,391 mAh
iPhone 17 Pro Max (eSIM only): 5,088 mAh
iPhone Duo: 4,883 mAh
iPhone 17 Pro Max (SIM): 4,823 mAh
iPhone 16 Pro Max: 4,685 mAh
iPhone 16 Plus: 4,674 mAh
iPhone 15 Pro Max: 4,422 mAh
iPhone 15 Plus: 4,383 mAh
iPhone 13 Pro Max: 4,352 mAh
iPhone 14 Plus: 4,325 mAh
iPhone 14 Pro Max: 4,323 mAh
iPhone 18 Pro (eSIM): 4,288 mAh
iPhone 17 Pro (eSIM only): 4,252 mAh
iPhone 18 Pro (SIM): 4,056 mAh
iPhone 16e: 4,005 mAh
iPhone 17 Pro (SIM): 3,988 mAh
iPhone 17: 3,692 mAh
iPhone 16 Pro: 3,582 mAh
iPhone 16: 3,561 mAh
iPhone 15: 3,349 mAh
iPhone 14: 3,279 mAh
iPhone 15 Pro: 3,274 mAh
iPhone 13: 3,227 mAh
iPhone 14 Pro: 3,200 mAh
iPhone Air (eSIM only): 3,149 mAh
iPhone 13 Pro: 3,095 mAh
iPhone 13 mini: 2,406 mAh
iPhone SE (2022): 2,018 mAh
As you can see, there's a vast gulf between the iPhone 13 and the iPhone Duo. The foldable has about 51 percent more battery capacity than the standard iPhone 13 (3,227 mAh), and more than twice the capacity of the iPhone 13 mini (2,406 mAh). The Duo beats the version with a SIM tray of the iPhone 17 Pro Max by 60 mAh, though it falls 205 mAh short of the eSIM-only version.
Obviously, though, the Duo still trails the iPhone 18 Pro Max, which packs a whopping 5,391 mAh battery in the version with a SIM tray and 5,567 mAh in the eSIM-only version. The latter is the largest battery Apple has ever shipped in an iPhone.