by Dan Moren
Apple adds mode to temporarily limit the iPhone 18 Pro Max battery for shipping
The new iPhone 18 Pro Max battery is quite capacious—so much so, in fact, that it potentially runs afoul of international shipping regulations. If you’re shipping batteries over 20 Wh, it triggers more restrictions. So Apple came up with a loophole, as it has documented on its support site:
iPhone 18 Pro Max uses an innovative battery-firmware solution that limits battery capacity to below 20 Wh from the time it’s manufactured through its transport from the factory. When you activate your iPhone, the limit is removed and the battery’s full charging capacity is available.
However, should you need to ship your iPhone after you’ve been using it, you can trigger this feature, dubbed, “Prepare to Ship”, in Settings. And just so you’re not surprised, Apple warns that “While your iPhone battery discharges, it might become warmer than usual. This is expected.” I feel like iPhone batteries already get pretty warm, how warm are we talking here? Hand-warmer on a ski slope warm? Cook a pancake warm?
Still, Apple does stress that the battery is perfectly safe for other uses, including air travel, and that this is purely a shipping requirement. I sure would have loved to be a fly on the wall for the discussion that ended up with this feature. It’s some serious in-the-box thinking.1
[via The Verge]
- PUN INTENDED, SUCKERS. ↩