iPhone 4S battery drain: Apple confirms iOS 5 bug

Fix for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners coming soon, says Cupertino...

Apple has confirmed some iOS 5 devices, such as the iPhone 4S, have battery-drain problemsCreative Commons: George Grinsted

Apple has confirmed battery-related bugs are affecting the latest iteration of its mobile OS - iOS 5 - causing some iOS device users to experience poor battery life.

"A small number of customers have reported lower-than-expected battery life on iOS 5 devices," Apple confirmed in a statement.

Owners of Apple's latest iPhone, the 4S, and other Apple mobile device owners who have upgraded to iOS 5 have been complaining of short battery life.

"I had [an] iPhone 4 running iOS 5 and I saw a marked reduction in battery life, I have since moved to the 4S as it has a slightly larger capacity battery and the power drainage has been phenomenal," wrote one iPhone owner on Apple's support forum.

"The battery life [on my iPhone 4S] is amazingly short," wrote another. "It's not lasting one full day. I think the problem is in the iOS 5 coz even in standby it is being drained."

iOS users had been trying to work out what was causing the problem by switching off various settings, device functions and services but Apple has now confirmed the issue is with iOS - and said it plans to release an update to fix it soon.

"We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks," Apple said in its statement.

Cupertino has also released a beta version of iOS 5.0.1 to developers - also indicating an iOS update is coming soon.