Apple explains battery charing and overheating issues

There have been concerns about the iPad’s battery since last week, when Dr. Raymond Soneira of DisplayMate claimed that the new iPad prematurely reports that it is fully charged by two hours.

Today, AllThingsD clarifies the battery charging issue by speaking with Apple’s Vice President of iPad Product Marketing Michael Tchao.

So here’s how things work: Apple does, in fact, display the iPad (and iPhone and iPod Touch) as 100 percent charged just before a device reaches a completely charged state. At that point, it will continue charging to 100 percent, then discharge a bit and charge back up to 100 percent, repeating that process until the device is unplugged.
Doing so allows devices to maintain an optimum charge, Apple VP Michael Tchao told AllThingsD today.

“That circuitry is designed so you can keep your device plugged in as long as you would like,” Tchao said. “It’s a great feature that’s always been in iOS.”

Apple also responded a few days ago concerning the new iPad’s battery overheating. Here’s Apple’s statement regarding the heat issue;

The new iPad delivers a stunning Retina display, A5X chip, support for 4G LTE plus 10 hours of battery life, all while operating well within our thermal specifications. If customers have any concerns they should contact AppleCare.

PCWorld also conducted a test among tablets to determine if the new iPad ran hotter than other tablets. While the new iPad does run slightly hotter than other tablets, they found that the complaints were overblown.

None of the tablets run as hot as the laptops that were tested, which registered as high as 112 degrees.

So far, it seems that batteries on the new iPad’s are working as Apple intended.

Originally posted 2015-03-27 23:55:08.