I’ve Charged My iPhone in All the Wrong Ways… for Science!

By Adrian Kingsley-Hughes | February 7, 2026

When Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro Max hit shelves last fall, I decided to conduct a little experiment: instead of babying my battery like I did with my iPhone 15 Pro Max, I’d push it to the limit—charging to 100% every time, using every charger I could find, and exposing it to temperature extremes. Now, after 122 recharge cycles in just 140 days, I’ve got some surprising results.

The Setup

My iPhone 17 Pro Max was one of the first units off the production line. For context, I spent the previous two years meticulously managing my iPhone 15 Pro Max’s battery—using optimized charging, keeping it between 20-80%, and generally treating it like a delicate flower.

This time? Different story.

• Disabled Optimized Battery Charging
• Disabled charge limit (charges to 100% every time)
• Used a mix of wired and wireless charging
• Exposed to freezing temperatures and direct sunlight
• Sometimes drained completely, other times kept on charge all day
• Always in a thick case that doesn’t help with heat dissipation

The Results

As of today, my battery health is still showing 100% capacity after 122 recharge cycles. That’s right—despite what battery experts would call “abuse,” my iPhone’s battery hasn’t budged from maximum health.

But here’s the thing: this isn’t magic. It’s not some secret Apple battery technology leaked from their orbiting lab. It’s actually pretty normal.

What’s Really Happening?

Modern lithium-ion batteries are incredibly robust. When you consider the billions of rechargeable batteries in use worldwide, it’s remarkable how rarely they fail catastrophically. Your smartphone is far less likely to catch fire than your gasoline-powered car—with traditional vehicles accounting for the vast majority of fire incidents.

Apple claims their iPhone batteries are “designed to retain 80 percent of their original capacity at 1,000 complete charge cycles under ideal conditions.” Based on this, I should expect to see about a 1 percentage point drop every 50 recharge cycles, which would mean my battery should still be fine for another couple of years.

But why is mine still at 100%?

The Honeymoon Period

Here’s the secret: rechargeable batteries have two capacities—rated and actual. The actual capacity is always slightly higher than the rated capacity to account for manufacturing variations. Your iPhone doesn’t start reporting battery wear until the actual capacity drops below the rated capacity.

In other words, there’s a “honeymoon period” where the battery seems to stay at 100% health forever… until it doesn’t. Once it crosses that threshold, you’ll start seeing that health percentage tick down—about one point per 50 cycles.

The Bottom Line

My battery is wearing, but it hasn’t yet fallen below the rated capacity, so iOS still reports 100%. This honeymoon period is normal for almost every new iPhone. After that, expect to see gradual decline.

I tracked my previous iPhone’s battery obsessively, doing everything “right” according to battery experts. By the two-year mark, it couldn’t make it through a day without charging. I had the charge limit set to 80%, and I feel like I sacrificed a significant portion of my battery’s usability for minimal gain.

So I’m continuing my experiment—charging my iPhone in all the “wrong” ways. Wish me luck!

Tags: iPhone battery health, battery degradation, lithium-ion batteries, charging habits, iOS battery management, battery optimization, smartphone battery life, charging to 100%, wireless charging, battery wear, iPhone 17 Pro Max, battery science, tech experiment, battery capacity, charge cycles

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