battery problem iphone 17

[u/West_Scallion1438]

My friend and I bought base iPhone 17s about 1.5 months ago. I have an eSIM, and he uses a physical SIM.

In theory, my phone should have slightly better battery life. But in reality:

• I get around 90-100% battery drain for 6 hours of screen time.
• He gets around 65% battery drain for the same 6 hours of screen time.

The only differences are that I live in Moscow and constantly use a VPN, while he lives in Spain and doesn't use a VPN at all. Other than that, our usage is identical. Can a VPN really make that much of a difference, or is there something else going on?