Some iPhone 17 Devices Won’t Turn on After Their Batteries Run Out
Some iPhone 17 Devices Won’t Turn on After Their Batteries Run Out
https://lifehacker.com/tech/iphone-17-wont-turn-on-after-batteries-run-out
Publish Date: 2026-04-27 18:41:00
Source Domain: lifehacker.com
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I strongly suspect the most desired smartphone attribute is longer battery life. After all, these are mobile devices, which means they’re meant to be used on the go. The longer you can wait between charges, the more mobile your phone can be. But no matter how large your battery is, at some point, it’s going to run out. The issue is, what happens if it doesn’t turn back on, even after you’ve left it on the charger?
Some iPhone 17s aren’t powering back on
I didn’t know about these claims until coming across Benjamin Mayo’s post on 9to5Mac. In a report on Monday, Mayo explained his iPhone Air’s battery died, so he plugged the device into power, expecting the Apple logo to appear as it usually does. However, according to Mayo, nothing happened, even after his iPhone stayed connected to power for minutes. It was as if the phone wasn’t plugged in at all. Mayo even tried a hardware reset, which involves quickly pressing the volume up button, then quickly pressing the volume down button, then holding the side button. This usually snaps a buggy iPhone back into place, but still, no dice.
Mayo found that his story wasn’t unique. In his article, he highlighted multiple forum threads of users complaining about iPhone 17 models that wouldn’t power back on after their batteries had totally run out. What’s particularly concerning is how many users comment on these posts sharing similar experiences. This thread has 144 comments at the time of writing, and most appear to be users confirming the issue happened to them, or to someone they knew. It’s not necessarily proof of a widespread issue, but it does suggest that something is going on with the iPhone 17’s battery.
For full transparency, I’ve been using an iPhone 17 Pro Max since late last year and this is the first I’m hearing of this. In the months I’ve owned this iPhone, I’ve never experienced any of the issues highlighted here. (I’ve…