iPhones are getting a Low Power mode to boost battery life

You know what’s better than having a thin smartphone? Having a smartphone with good battery life. Unfortunately, both of those things tend to come at the cost of the other, or at least, they used to. However, Apple has a new feature that’ll be coming to iPhones with the iOS 9 update later this year which could significantly improve battery life without having to sacrifice the device’s thinness. 

Every year, without fail, the iPhone gets thinner and thinner. And every year, without fail, iPhone owners routinely exclaim that they’d rather have better battery life than an even thinner form factor. Well, today Apple introduced a new iOS 9 feature that may cure some of your iPhone related battery woes. Dubbed ‘Low Power’ mode, the new iOS 9 feature was quickly glossed over during today’s jam-packed WWDC keynote but is worth highlighting. Impressively, when an iPhone is in “Low Power” mode, battery life can improve by as much as three hours. Even without the mode enabled, iOS 9 will still improve battery life by about an hour. According to Apple’s Craig Federighi, this is accomplished via iOS 9 “pulling levers you didn’t even know existed” behind the scenes. With battery life often being the most commonly levied complaint heard from iPhone users, it’s nice to see Apple finally address this via software. Of course, the underlying and unanswered question is to what extent will a device in “Low Power” mode impede functionality.