Apple is rolling out a new feature called "battery health management" that will change how laptops charge themselves.

The update will mean that laptops may not charge themselves all the way up all of the time, if the computer believes doing so will protect the life of the battery.

It aims to avoid a problem that means fully charging a laptop's battery puts a strain on it, because of the chemicals inside. Leaving a computer charged up in this way can therefore reduce its capacity, leading the battery life to fall over time.

Instead, if the computer believes that it is not likely to need 100 per cent battery in the future, it will only charge up some of the way. The computer will show that the battery is full, but it may not actually be.

The feature can be turned off and may not be activated in all situations, Apple said. It will also ensure that the battery life is not significantly affected, the company said.

A similar feature is already in place on Apple's iPhone, and was introduced in a recent update. It means that the phone will learn when it goes on charge at night and when you tend to wake up, for instance, leaving the final bit of charge until it expects you to get up and start using your phone.

The Mac update will work in largely the same way, using its history of charging and battery use to notice times when you tend not to need the full battery life. If a computer tends to be used plugged in throughout the day, for instance, it may not charge up its battery fully.

The feature will come to any MacBook that Thunderbolt 3. That includes every MacBook Pro since 2016 and the MacBook Airs that haev been released since 2018.

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