The eSIM-only iPhone 18 Pro has a 4,288 mAh battery. The eSIM-only iPhone 18 Pro Max has 5,567 mAh. Both figures now come off the cell labels in a teardown published on 20th September. We already published numbers for the versions with physical SIM trays.
The eSIM only iPhones are sold in twelve markets. Among them is the United States, Canada, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Everywhere else gets the version with the physical SIM tray. Since the physical tray and its housing take up room, those physical SIM phones have a little smaller batteries. Apple never officially publishes battery sizes. So we always have to wait either wait for the EU required listing, or tear downs done by the likes of JerryRigEverything or iFixit.
Comparing iPhone 18 Battery sizes:
| SIM tray | eSIM-only | Extra battery? | Same phone last year, eSIM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| iPhone 18 Pro | 4,056 mAh | 4,288 mAh | 232 mAh | 4,252 mAh |
| iPhone 18 Pro Max | 5,391 mAh | 5,567 mAh | 176 mAh | 5,088 mAh |
Year on year, the eSIM Pro gains 36 mAh, or 0.85 percent. The eSIM Pro Max gains 479 mAh, or 9.4 percent. The Pro spent its space on a vapour chamber with three times the cooling surface, and the Pro Max added a bigger vapor chamber plus a much bigger battery.
When we wrote about the Physical SIM battery figures, we guessed that the eSIM versions would have roughly 4,320 mAh and 5,655 mAh for Pro and Pro max respectively. Well, we were wrong by 32 mAh and 88 mAh respectively. The tray costs you less battery size this year.
The American Pro Max is also the only iPhone 18 Pro Max in the world running a Qualcomm modem instead of Apple’s own C2. Reviews point to that Qualcomm part drawing out more power.
Most Kenyan imports will be the normal SIM trays. So expect 4,056 mAh and 5,391 mAh. However, I know more and more Kenyans are happy with getting the eSIM only iPhones, which means the bigger batteries.
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