Consumer Reports Stands By Their Battery Life Tests On Latest MacBook Pros

Consumer Reports has responded to criticisms regarding their battery test results for the Late 2016 MacBook Pro, and stands by their results.

Some users were reporting incredible battery life, up to double Apple’s claimed battery life. Those users contacted Consumer Reports noting that their tests may have been flawed in some way, shape or form. However, the firm replied by saying there’s no need to modify their testing as they monitor the entire test.

In this case, we don’t believe re-running the tests are warranted for several reasons. First, as we point out in our original article, experiencing very high battery life on MacBooks is not unusual for us – in fact we had a model in our comparative tests that got 19 hours. Second, we confirmed our brightness with three different meters, so we feel confident in our findings using this equipment. Finally, we monitor our tests very closely. There is an entry logged every minute, so we know from these entries that the app worked correctly.

However, they’re willing to work with Apple in order to resolve the issue. Apple’s own Phil Schiller says that the results do not match the company’s extensive lab tests or field data.

We are working collaboratively to understand the lower battery life findings and will report back to our readers if and when there is an update.

Apple’s main concern probably isn’t about the battery life itself, but rather the fact that for the first time Consumer Reports isn’t recommending the MacBook Pro.