The Apple Watch may have a far worse battery life than previously thought, as it will reportedly last for just 2.5 hours with heavy application use.

Apple unveiled its very first smartwatch back in September, but the gadget has still not gone on sale yet. Concerns regarding battery performance were among the major factors contributing to the device's retail delay, and it now seems such woes may only get deeper.

Upon announcing its smartwatch, Apple said the device will require charging every night, which suggested the Apple Watch would at least go through a full day on a single charge. The company has not offered any precise details on the battery performance of the Apple Watch, as it never disclosed just for how long exactly the device would be able to work before running out of juice.

More information has now surfaced in this regards, and the news is disappointing to say the least. Citing sources familiar with the development of the Apple Watch, 9to5Mac reveals specific performance targets for the gadget's battery life.

"According to our sources, Apple opted to use a relatively powerful processor and high-quality screen for the Apple Watch, both of which contribute to significant power drain. Running a stripped-down version of iOS codenamed SkiHill, the Apple S1 chip inside the Apple Watch is surprisingly close in performance to the version of Apple's A5 processor found inside the current-generation iPod touch, while the Retina-class color display is capable of updating at a fluid 60 frames per second," reveals the report.

"Apple initially wanted the Apple Watch battery to provide roughly one full day of usage, mixing a comparatively small amount of active use with a larger amount of passive use. As of 2014, Apple wanted the Watch to provide roughly 2.5 to 4 hours of active application use versus 19 hours of combined active/passive use, 3 days of pure standby time, or 4 days if left in a sleeping mode. Sources, however, say that Apple will only likely achieve approximately 2-3 days in either the standby or low-power modes..."

The publication's sources further disclosed that Apple now hopes to get 2.5 hours of "heavy" application (such as processor-intensive gameplay, for instance) or 3.5 hours of standard applications use on a single charge. When tracking exercise through the Apple Watch's fitness tracking software, meanwhile, Apple reportedly hopes to get 4 hours of use out of the device's battery.

Even without fancy applications, the Apple Watch would still not last for very long on a single charge. Apple has reportedly run numerous tests to determine for how long its Watch would last in time-keeping modes, with no other uses. According to the report, the device should be able to deliver roughly three hours of use with the clock face displayed, complete with watch ticking animations, provided that the watch doesn't do anything else.

In order to get a full day of usage out of the Apple Watch, one would have to interact with the gadget only for short periods of time, otherwise the battery will drain in no time. Lastly, Apple has reportedly been hoping to obtain approximately 19 hours of mixed usage per day, but the company may not be able to meet its goal with this Watch iteration.