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Apple's already said that its highly anticipated Apple Watch wearable will need to be charged daily, but so far we've had no indication of just how long it expects the battery to last. However, 9to5Mac is now reporting that it's managed to get hold of Apple's estimated battery life targets from its sources close to the project.
According to 9to5Mac, the Apple Watch will run a stripped down version of iOS called SkiHill and will be powered by an Apple S1 chip which will be able to deliver performance levels on par with Apple's A5 processor currently found in the iPod Touch. It will also have a high-quality, Retina-class display with a silky smooth refresh rate of 60fps.
Both of these are likely cause significant power drain over long periods of time, but Apple was initially aiming for a battery life of one full day of mixed usage, combining a small amount of active use with longer periods of passive use. As of 2014, Apple changed this goal to roughly 2.5-4 hours of active application use, 19 hours of combined active and passive use, 3 days of pure standby time or 4 days of sleep. However, 9to5Mac's sources suggest that the Apple Watch will only likely achieve around 2-3 days in both the standby and low-power modes.
This may come as a disappointment to anyone hoping that Apple might be able to solve the battery life problem that's been plaguing smartwatches such as the Motorola Moto 360 and LG G Watch R, but 9to5Mac suggested that the 2.5 hours figure of 'heavy' use will likely mean intense, processor-heavy gameplay, while standard app use will likely garner around 3.5 hours of continuous use. Strangely, Apple seems to be expecting better battery life figures when using its fitness tracking software, which is targeted for nearly 4 hours of straight exercise tracking.
As for using the standard watch-face, Apple's figures suggest that it will be able to display its watch face for 3 straight hours as long as you don't use it for anything else. This includes the watch-ticking animations. However, like most smartwatches, this is unlikely to happen during everyday use, as the display will turn itself off when it's not in use, prolonging the battery much further. Therefore, it seems likely that you'll still be able to get a full day's use out of the Apple Watch, but you're less likely to be able to stretch it over multiple days.
9to5Mac says that the ongoing battery concerns were one of the main reasons why Apple pushed back the launch of the Apple Watch from late 2014 to early this year. As Apple continue testing the device, it's believed that around 3,000 watches are currently in circulation for real-world testing, mostly consisting of the stainless steel model.
