Battery Health Drop from 100% to 97% in 7 Months — Is This Normal?

I see normal. Given that some here say 1% per month of use is normal, yours is awesome.

Remember that "Health" (i.e, remaining capacity to hold a charge divided by "design capacity") is an inexact and non-linear value. Inexact in that its calculation is based on the AVERAGE or design capacity of all batteries of the model. Individual batteries, like any manufactured item, vary from the "average" within an allowable tolerance set by engineers and manufacturing personnel. My current (new) Macbook Pro has 102+% capacity, suggesting that the tolerance could be as much as ±2%. Let's not forget the basic issue with "average" values:

Non-linear in that Health goes up and down over time. This is part of the battery history for my 2012 Macbook Pro bought new in 2013 (original battery):

Note that on 5-5-2022 health spiked by 4%, then plummeted to 75% by 6-25, then returned to the previous low -80% range by December. BTW, that computer still has the original battery, now 12 years old, still has about 82% health and delivers very useable runtime between recharging.

I do not "hang my decision-making hat" on anything so variable. Please enjoy your computer and do not obsess over such an inexact value. macOS in conjunction with the battery do a good job of power management.

By the way, that 2012 Macbook Pro had very unsophisticated power management compared today's Mac laptops

It can be normal. In fact the Maximum Capacity value for an Apple Battery can fluctuate up & down by at least 5% or even a bit more.

Battery Charge Cycles are completely irrelevant unless they are nearing 1,000 cycles or you are trying to get a warranty battery repair.

Just completely ignore all battery information unless you are having an actual problem with the laptop's battery no longer performing to your expectations.....or if you just want to observe & learn how the Apple battery behaves (for the latter, just observe & learn).

Once your laptop's battery is no longer performing to your expectations, then you can look at the Battery Condition and Charge Cycles. If the Battery Condition is showing "Service Recommended" and you are having battery related issues, then it means it is time to have the battery replaced.

If you see the "Service Recommended" battery condition, but are not noticing any issues, then just ignore it until you do notice issues. Unfortunately one of the triggers for the "Service Recommended" battery condition is when the Maximum Capacity drops below 80% of its original design capacity (it may be a bit lower these days since the release of macOS 15.x Sequoia).

Edit: Forgot to mention, the age of the battery plays a huge role in its health. And whether the battery/laptop has suffered any impacts or extreme heat conditions. Leaving the battery at 0% charge for any length of time will definitely cause a Lithium battery to fail prematurely as well.

Thanks to @Allan Jones for providing a real world example of a Lithium battery's history (we seem to have been responding at the same time).

My current (new) Macbook Pro has 102+% capacity, suggesting that the tolerance could be as much as ±2%.

My 16" M4 Pro MBP bought in November is currently at 103%, but I had one MBP a few years ago that started at 108%.

To the OP, the advice to just not worry about your battery is spot on. FYI, Apple's threshold that a battery with ≥80% health is 'normal'.

sanju_000 wrote:

Is this normal for the first few months of usage?

• When does battery health usually stabilize?

In my experience, Apple's LiPo batteries usually drop to the 88-92% health range over the first 100-200 cycles, then stay there for several hundred more cycles before beginning their slow, inevitable decline somewhere north of 700-1000 cycles.

The exception is if you mistreat your battery, the main way you can do that is leaving a fully charged battery in a hot car. Barring that, you should get several years of use.

My work Mac is a 16" M1 MBP, currently on 183 cycles and at 94% health.

we seem to have been responding at the same time).

You're usually faster!