While poking through the FCC documents and piecing together a story on the network band situation for the iPhone 5S and 5C, I remembered that part of a normal disclosure is in fact battery size. Apple noted the battery on the iPhone 5C increased, and I've been curious about the 5S battery size as well given the different PCB photos with slightly changed aspect ratio that floated around as potential candidates for the 5S. Apple also doesn't disclose the battery size in Whr or mAh on their tech spec pages, making this the only real place to find out outside of opening them up and looking once they're available.

iPhone Battery Sizes
Device iPhone 5 iPhone 5S iPhone 5C
Battery Size (Whr) 5.45 5.96 5.73
Battery Voltage (Nominal) 3.8 3.8 3.8
Battery Size (mAh) 1440 mAh ~1570 mAh ~1507 mAh

It turns out that there are in fact some battery size increases for both the 5S and 5C if the FCC disclosure is to be believed. While I'm somewhat skeptical sometimes of the accuracy of battery capacities as reported in FCC disclosures (which I noted about the battery size for the Nexus 5), these numbers seem credible given what I've heard, the statement Apple made during the keynote about the 5C battery size going up, and what I'd expect with some board re-layout for the 5S. The iPhone 5S ends up getting an almost 10 percent increase in size versus the iPhone 5, the iPhone 5C goes up around 5 percent versus the iPhone 5. 

Source: FCC

iPhone 5C:

iPhone 5S:

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  • jasonelmore - Thursday, September 12, 2013 - link

    this will mean charging times will increase but that's a small price to pay. it's like apple engineers read anantech with the battery size increase, camera pixel size increase,
  • jasperjones - Thursday, September 12, 2013 - link

    That battery size increase of roughly 5% is nothing to write home about. I call easily impressed Apple fanboi.
  • ingwe - Thursday, September 12, 2013 - link

    Given that the size of the phone didn't increase, the 5% improvement is decent. Calling someone a fanboi isn't always accurate.
  • fourthletter - Thursday, September 12, 2013 - link

    The 5C did indeed grow !
  • designerfx - Monday, September 16, 2013 - link

    huh? it's decent, but not even notable. Look at what motorola did with the razr line and phones like the droid ultra.
  • RussianSensation - Thursday, September 12, 2013 - link

    1440 to 1570 is a 9% increase not 5%.
  • Romberry - Friday, September 13, 2013 - link

    True, it is a 9 percent increase. And you'll notice it about as much as a 9 percent bump in processor speed...which is to say almost not at all.
  • tipoo - Thursday, September 12, 2013 - link

    No one said it's the most amazing thing in the world. But a 10% increase, in the same chassis size (for the 5S), and a supposedly more efficient SoC? I'll take it.
  • darwinosx - Thursday, September 12, 2013 - link

    Did he say impressed? No. I call immature Android teenager who ego is wrapped up in choice of device. Grow up is all I'm saying.
  • BSMonitor - Thursday, September 12, 2013 - link

    Its likely to address a more power hungry 64-bit ARM CPU.. More juice to maintain the 5's battery life numbers.

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