IPhone: What is `accountsd` and why is it using 80% CPU

I had a similar question about how to identify files and programs connected to kernal_task using the following terminal command:

kextstat -l -k | awk '{n = sprintf("%d", $4); print n, $6}' | sort -n

This will display various kexts and the memory associated with them. For example, 6184960 com.apple.driver.AirPort.Brcm4360 is a big hog for me, but I can't do much about it if I want to use wifi.

One of the suggestions I received was to look up all non-Apple kexts are taking up memory by piping the above to grep -v com.apple. It's possible that some non-Apple programs are using up your resources. You should be able to remove those without breaking anything.

The age old solution of course is to restart your computer. Sometimes that's all it takes to set processes back to their normal levels of CPU usage.

Open a support ticket with AppleCare if you'd like expert help in determining whether they can run diagnostics remotely to measure a few more data points than the overall summary.

It could be a high GPU / CPU / firmware thing that needs updating, but it also could be a battery that soon enough will show less life than designed and you'll be offered an exchange under warranty.

You can also open terminal and issue a few commands to look in more detail at power management.

 pmset -g rawlog

 pmset -g pslog

If you record the settings you have, correlate things with date; io_stat 300 you should get a good indication if the estimates are off and why. Of course, start with the machine 80% charged or more and let them run as your battery drains. AppleCare might not need all the logs, but you can send them / save them and run a check in 3 or 6 months to see if the battery is substantially worse / same / better than now.