Last week we brought you news that the new iPhone would be getting some significant internal upgrades to go along with it’s external makeover. Those upgrades – hints of which were found in the beta version of iOS 6, currently being tested internally by Apple – indicate that the new iPhone will be getting a better processor, a full gigabyte of RAM, and a much improved GPU.

Now it seems that another internal upgrade will provide the new iPhone with a much-needed boost to its battery life. According to 9to5Mac, the iOS 6 beta code also includes references to Broadcom’s BCM4334 chips. According to Broadcom’s description, the BCM4334 is a 40nm chip that provides a variety of capabilities, including 802.11n wi-fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and FM radio reception. What’s more, the chip is extremely energy efficient, having relatively minimal power consumption requirements. The chip also supports wi-fi direct, which could be used to make direct connections to other wi-fi devices, making the transfer of data between the two much easier (think iOS 5’s wireless syncing capabilities).

With this new wi-fi chip, then, the new iPhone will get some significant feature enhancements along with dramatically improved power efficiency. That makes for two components in the new iPhone that will enhance its battery life. It’s a fair bet that the improved processor the new iPhone will be getting will be the same as – or extremely similar to – the one found in some very recent iPad 2 models. That processor, if you recall, gave the new iPad 2 a dramatic boost in battery life all by itself.

Of course, some of the features of the new iPhone – larger display and 4G LTE, mainly – come with increased power requirements. To offset those increased power requirements, Apple was going to have to do something to improve – or at least maintain – the battery life of the iPhone 4S (which is pretty poor). If the new processor and wi-fi chip perform as well as promised, the new iPhone may actually wind up with a better battery than the iPhone 4S.