Apple promo video confirms iPhone 6s has a 1715mAh battery, smaller than 1810mAh battery in iPhone 6
Apple's 3D Touch Video Confirms 1715 mAh iPhone 6s Battery — Last month, rumors and photos of a battery that looked very similar to an iPhone battery suggested that the iPhone 6s' battery capacity …
Context & Ripple Effects
After a month of leaked photos pointing to a smaller cell, Apple's own 3D Touch promo video settles it: the iPhone 6s ships with a 1715mAh battery, down from the iPhone 6's 1810mAh — even though 3D Touch adds hardware that draws power. Two weeks later, iFixit's teardown confirmed the 1715mAh cell alongside the Taptic Engine x-rays, closing out the rumor cycle with physical proof.
First-order effects
- iPhone 6s buyers start with less rated battery capacity than the phone it replaces, making Apple's claim that efficiency gains offset the smaller cell the load-bearing argument for the upgrade.
Second-order effects
- Regulatory filings fill the vacuum Apple leaves by not publishing specs: TENAA listings become the de facto confirmation channel, as seen when the iPhone 7's 1,960mAh filing surfaced through the same route a year later.
Third-order effects
- The pattern holds across generations — the iPhone 8's 1,821mAh cell was again smaller than its predecessor's — pushing Apple to compete on chip efficiency and energy density rather than raw capacity, a path that runs forward to the higher-density battery Kuo reports for the iPhone 16 Pro Max under EU replaceability rules.
The trend: iPhone batteries keep shrinking in milliamp-hours as Apple trades rated capacity for silicon efficiency and new features, with regulators and leakers filling the disclosure gap.