iPhone battery life has improved significantly over the past few years, with the iPhone 15 Plus and iPhone 15 Pro Max currently ranking in the iPhone 15 series battery life rankings. However, future iPhones may have even better battery life thanks to a new design that allows for greater energy density.

The news comes from Ming-Chi Kuo, a longtime analyst at X. Kuo claims that Apple will use a stainless steel casing for the iPhone battery, which will increase cell density by about 5-10%. This would likely bring the battery within safety standards and also comply with new EU regulations.

The new battery is expected to be added to some of this year's iPhones, and Kuo previously claimed that the iPhone 16 Pro Max will be the "main beneficiary" of the denser battery. This means that Apple could offer better battery life with the same battery size or truncate the battery to offer something similar to the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Kuo noted that stainless steel is less effective at dissipating heat than the current aluminum design, so Apple will need to come up with a solution. Battery protection will improve, however; in April a leaker leaked the battery size for each iPhone 16 model.

It is unclear whether other iPhone 16 models will benefit from the same, or whether they will remain with the same battery as the iPhone 15 series; Kuo's earlier report suggests that we may not see a full series rollout until iPhone 17.

This distinction may be important if only the new batteries are designed to comply with EU regulations. The regulation, which will take effect next year, states that cell phone owners should be able to replace their batteries with basic, easily accessible tools.

Currently, this is not the case with the iPhone 15. This is because it requires a special tool called a "battery press" and a pair of adhesive strips that must be carefully removed with tweezers.

A recent report from The Information, detailed by MacRumors, claims that Apple simplifies this process with something called "electro-inductive bonding."

We will have to wait and see what happens when the iPhone 16 Pro Max is released. This is because we will likely not know about the new battery technology until the first iPhone 16 Pro Max teardown is released on the web.

In the meantime, check the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro Max hubs for all the latest news and updates.