iPhone 17 Pro eSIM vs Nano SIM: Which Lasts Longer on Daily Use?

Apple has just released the iPhone 17 Pro model, a series that changes the game in a big way: the eSIM-only versions now have larger batteries than the models that use the traditional Nano SIM. This is the first time that Apple provides the same handsets with various battery capacities according to the market.

The eSIM 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max mentioned above also come into play in the eSIM market. Bahrain, Canada, Guam, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, the U.S., and the U.S. Virgin Islands are the places mentioned. During the launch in September, Apple told that the area left by the removal of the Nano SIM tray was utilized for the bigger battery.

The 17 Pro with eSIM has a 4,252mAh cell which is better than 3,998mAh of the standard Nano SIM. Apple says it should allow video playback of around 2 hours more, but browsing, talking, and playing games are also expected to be the other use scenarios which will enjoy this benefit.

Unofficial testing shows that eSIM 17 Pro got the Active Use Score of 16h and 12m, 49m more than the Nano SIM. Call performance recorded 24h and 1m with 47m over the physical SIM version as improvement, so the total is now a little better than just a little.

The most impressive increase occurred while browsing, where eSIM scored 13h and 41m, an hour more than Nano SIM. On the other hand, gaming performance was also enhanced with a new max of 10h and 58m, thus 44m more of the device's lifespan. Yet, results for video streaming were almost the same with eSIM getting 22h and 40m and 22h and 47m for the Nano SIM, which does not even come close to Apple's claimed two-hour advantage.

With a 5.3% higher Active Use Score, the eSIM iPhone 17 Pro recorded a better result than the physical SIM counterpart. The web browsing and gaming activities were the ones that showed a more significant part of the improvement, while the video playback still showed only minimal changes.

Some analysts think that Apple will one day get rid of the physical SIM cards altogether, thus allowing the battery capacity to be the same across the different regions. Still, the future hardware innovations like the silicon-carbon battery technology could make the device lasting longer, although there are no official announcements regarding the timing of such technology's adoption.

Pricing:

iPhone 17 Pro 256GB, 12GB RAM: Rs 134,900 / $1,049

iPhone 17 Pro 512GB, 12GB RAM: Rs 154,900 / $1,550

The eSIM-only adoption of Apple may be the first step towards design changes of this kind that prioritize regional optimization and battery consumption, and thus the potential new direction for the iPhone.