Users Will Spend About 41¢ Each Year Charging the iPhone 5

[Anthony Bouchard]

According to a report by Opower, an energy efficiency company, Apple’s new iPhone 5 doesn’t cost a whole lot to charge per year. It is estimated that iPhone 5 owners will spend about 41¢ in an entire year charging their iPhone 5. This is very inexpensive, but 3¢ more per year than it would cost to charge an iPhone 4. The iPhone 5 also costs less to charge in a year than the competing product, the Samsung Galaxy SIII, which is estimated to cost 53¢ per year to charge.

In case you’ve been slacking on your lithium-ion rechargeable battery studies in school, Apple’s engineering teams have been increasing the capacities of the batteries in Apple’s devices so they can hold more juice. This allows Apple to advertise great battery life even with demanding technology like 4G LTE, increased memory, and more CPU and GPU performance. The greater capacities ultimately mean using more electricity to charge the battery.

These numbers assume charging from 0-100% each time, once a day, while the devices are turned completely off. They’re very unbiased numbers, but they probably aren’t as realistic as we would like to hope, since most people don’t let their batteries drop to 0% before charging and don’t fully power down their devices to charge them. Another factor is that some people leave their devices in standby mode more than others and some just drain the battery every couple of hours through constant hardware usage, such as GPU-intensive gaming.

The chart from Opower also includes some interesting statistics regarding how the cost of charging the iPhone 5 compares to other kinds of electrical devices throughout the course of a year, such as televisions, computers, and game consoles.

Sources: Opower via MacRumors

[joshlogic]

That is an insanely low cost to power such a high-performance device.

[GmAz]

That is an insanely low cost to power such a high-performance device.

A desktop is a high performance device. You have a phone that texts, takes pictures and plays game/runs small apps. Where exactly do you see high performance in any of that?

[Perceptum]

That is an insanely low cost to power such a high-performance device.

I agree100%. It is amazing how powerful these new phone and how little energy they take.

[Eiswritsat]

Well prior to 2007 most phones couldn't even do that without issues so it's all subjective to what the person considers high performance. Some think a mustang is high performance some think a Bugatti is high performance. Either way its still pretty cheap to charge this phone, lol.

[Banks4004]

these statistics are interesting but irrelevant compared to the cost of the device. very efficient relatively

[MetallicaFan1991]

So I guess my Home Cinema is using about $80 a year then. :/

[unison999]

A desktop is a high performance device. You have a phone that texts, takes pictures and plays game/runs small apps. Where exactly do you see high performance in any of that?

Ditto.
iPhones, iPads, iDevices are gadgets.
Sure they are getting more powerful, but it is not even near what a desktop can do.

[1shuttle1]

So I guess my Home Cinema is using about $80 a year then. :/

That's probably a little high. I read somewhere that a big screen tv on 8 hours a day uses about 22 dollars a year in electric. I'm sure that big screen takes more energy then a receiver or dvd. I think a tv of that size with no battery is also very impressive for the price of electric.

[lkailburn]

I don't get it. Charging from 0-100% while the device is turned off? How do you do that with an iPhone?

[Mrteacup]

iPhones > gs3

It saves you 12 cents a year!:P I don't even know if that's right. Haha I am an apple fanboy but if you aren't buying cases etc. online but instead at stores a gs3 will save you a lot more money..

Also this years smartphones are high performance devices. They do more than 1/2 of what a laptop can do In the palm of your hand.. Look at laptops that were considere high performance years ago! 1gb+ used to be a great amount! And now that's on most smartphones.

[reznor9]

A desktop is a high performance device. You have a phone that texts, takes pictures and plays game/runs small apps. Where exactly do you see high performance in any of that?

Being that the camera is pretty great and the games and "small apps" you refer to house some amazing graphics and the fact that there are tons of useful apps that have complex directives yet simple attractive interfaces... The fact that 98% of what I "used" to use my laptop for can now be done with my iPhone or iPad... That's what makes it a high performance device.

[ProperGeek]

It think you guys both are missing the point, and obviously don't use your smartphones very much. What exactly do you do on you computer that can't be done on a cellphone these days? Emails, cat videos, and po*n? My cellphone is used to take photos, make videos, edit video/photos, emails, make calls, watch movies, watch TV, transfer documents, scan documents, banking, set up business meetings, maintain and collect large amounts of data, steam music, etc....Now how much energy would it take to charge/power a video camera, photo camera, usb hardrive, mp3 player, desktop computer, LCD screen, streaming device (i.e., Roku, Apple TV), scanner, receiver, etc...?!

If you're talking about rending HDQ videos, playing Skyrim on Ultra, or creating 3D animation, you're right....but now you're just looking desperate for something/someone to troll.

A desktop is a high performance device. You have a phone that texts, takes pictures and plays game/runs small apps. Where exactly do you see high performance in any of that?

Ditto.
iPhones, iPads, iDevices are gadgets.
Sure they are getting more powerful, but it is not even near what a desktop can do.

[Luismiguellopezx]

i just say that i spend more bills then that 41 sense ..... come on

[tlc1217]

Good thing I've been saving!!!

[nebnostod]

A desktop is a high performance device. You have a phone that texts, takes pictures and plays game/runs small apps. Where exactly do you see high performance in any of that?

Hey Schmuck! The iPhone 5 is more powerful than most desktop computers in the world today! (Read carefully or you will misunderstand my statement.)

[Chula]

Good thing I've been saving!!!

Lol

Well prior to 2007 most phones couldn't even do that without issues so it's all subjective to what the person considers high performance. Some think a mustang is high performance some think a Bugatti is high performance. Either way its still pretty cheap to charge this phone, lol.

I Agree