One of the sources, Consumer Reports, generally produced a positive critique of the company’s latest flagship notebook, complimenting Apple on the device’s display quality and reasonable performance outcome due to a combination of Intel’s Skylake processor and AMD’s Radeon Pro 400 series GPUs. However, the device’s inconsistent battery life was apparently too big of a problem to overlook this time around.

The non-profit group tested three variants of the MacBook Pro 2016, including 13-inch models with and without the Touch Bar, and a 15-inch model with the Touch Bar. Each notebook’s battery life was tested on MacOS Sierra 10.12.2 using a series of repeated trials, where 10 web pages were downloaded sequentially starting with a full charge, and ending when the batteries were empty. The displays were set to an average 100 nits brightness with auto brightness disabled, and final battery life scores were averaged by the sum of the trial measurements.

With widely varying figures to report, the 13-inch Touch Bar model produced 16 hours of battery life in one test and 12.75 hours in a second test, yet only 3.75 hours in a third test. On the other hand, the non-Touch Bar model produced 19.5 hours in one test, and only 4.5 hours in a second test. Meanwhile, the 15-inch Touch Bar model produced 18.5 hours in one test and only eight hours in a second test.

For a more consumer-oriented rating, the reporters decided to publish the lowest battery life results from the trials, as they are more likely to reflect a consumer’s real-world experience without access to charging via an electrical outlet.

The media outlet then shared diagnostic files from all three MacBook Pro 2016 units with Apple in hopes that it will diagnose and issue a fix for the problem. However, it was met with the automated response, “Any customer who has a question about their Mac or its operation should contact AppleCare”. It will update its report when the company issues an official response.