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Apple Launches $99 MagSafe Battery Pack
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Yeah, it is tragic that Apple isn’t fulfilling usecases that they have enabled in the past.
This battery pack is sad.
Man…I want to buy this so bad…but I have the Anker edition and honestly…it’s a better battery.
The Anker battery is 5000mAh and charges with a USB-C cable that COMES WITH the device. The port also charges both ways…so it will charge MagSafe devices (as well as older Qi devices, though not as fast or as efficient), and it will charge my iPad Pro via the USB-C port. It advertises an extra 17 hours of video playback on the iPhone. I’ve been impressed. The magnets are pretty strong. It is NOT MagSafe (the phone doesn’t recognize it as such), but it works like MagSafe. The battery has a rubber-like coating and is black. Ticks most of the boxes…though I wish it as MagSafe.
And it’s just over $45. The link is below.
Anker PowerCore 5000mAh
The Anker battery is 5000mAh and charges with a USB-C cable that COMES WITH the device. The port also charges both ways…so it will charge MagSafe devices (as well as older Qi devices, though not as fast or as efficient), and it will charge my iPad Pro via the USB-C port. It advertises an extra 17 hours of video playback on the iPhone. I’ve been impressed. The magnets are pretty strong. It is NOT MagSafe (the phone doesn’t recognize it as such), but it works like MagSafe. The battery has a rubber-like coating and is black. Ticks most of the boxes…though I wish it as MagSafe.
And it’s just over $45. The link is below.
Anker PowerCore 5000mAh
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From an Apple support document:
This seems to be a very un-Apple-like design. I understand from a technical stand point why this occurs, but then it seems that they should design a bigger battery so that the iPhone CAN be charged to 100% without having to resort to turning the phone to low-power mode.
For someone who doesn't have the technical knowledge, it's un-intuitive why phone must go on low-power mode to be charged to 100%. Crazy, crazy.
This seems to be a very un-Apple-like design. I understand from a technical stand point why this occurs, but then it seems that they should design a bigger battery so that the iPhone CAN be charged to 100% without having to resort to turning the phone to low-power mode.
For someone who doesn't have the technical knowledge, it's un-intuitive why phone must go on low-power mode to be charged to 100%. Crazy, crazy.
It says it charges at only 5w when not plugged in. So no, not MagSafe speed on the go.
I mean it would probably charge, but the battery wouldn't stick to the back of the phone. Which is pretty much the whole point of this. Without MagSafe, you're better off buying a battery case or a pack that plugs into the phone, since this will only charge at 5W (and inefficiently).
I've had my eye on that Anker since it was first announced.
I typically use a battery pack to charge my phone in hotels. It's easier than being chained to a wall outlet. And I've got a short 1-foot cable from the battery pack to the phone.
But with this... I don't even need a cable!
The Anker sounds wonderful to me. Thanks for the recommendation.
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It gives a partial charge for $99? That doesn't seem like a deal to me, especially with the mini model.
Agreed. The Anker battery looks to be a better one. But if I were to get a battery pack, I'd probably go with the Apple one because of the integration with the iOS. I'm such a sucker for that... *sigh*
Also, probably the one thing I don't like about the Anker battery is that it uses USB-C. Because the iPhone 12 series uses lightning cable, I don't want to also carry a USB-C cable to charge the battery directly. That said, it would be nice if the iPhone 12 series was designed with USB C in the first place.
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I think it can be read to imply that it will work with iOS 14.7 and up. They're just stating the minimum requirements.
I'll probably end up buying it, but this is another Tim Cook Apple era product (IE creating maximum value by selling the minimum viable product):
1. No included accessories (Still have to buy the elusive 20w brick separately, it will literally never ship with another product.)
2. Charges with Lightning and not USB-C (If it did, then you no longer need lightning cables since it can pass through charge.)
3. No built in AirTag support. This is a prime target of something you are going to lose - you only use it occasionally and it doesn't stay attached to the device you use it with.
Apple could have created something amazing here and even bumped the price to 129/149, but instead we get the phoned-in product.
1. No included accessories (Still have to buy the elusive 20w brick separately, it will literally never ship with another product.)
2. Charges with Lightning and not USB-C (If it did, then you no longer need lightning cables since it can pass through charge.)
3. No built in AirTag support. This is a prime target of something you are going to lose - you only use it occasionally and it doesn't stay attached to the device you use it with.
Apple could have created something amazing here and even bumped the price to 129/149, but instead we get the phoned-in product.
Well, the batteries are connected in series, which increases the voltage, not the amperage. It’s still a 1460mAh pack. What’s important is not the mAh rating but the Wh rating (Ah times V). People need to stop obsessing over and quoting mAh. Batteries can only be compared with mAh if they have the same output voltage. If the output voltage is different, then direct comparisons of mAh are incorrect and completely useless.
Most iPhones use a single cell battery, which has a rated voltage of about half what this pack does. So if you have an iPhone with 2900-3000 mAh, it’s roughly the same capacity as this pack @ 1460mAh/7.6V. Of course, you won’t get a full charge out of that because wireless charging is inherently inefficient.
It would be cool if it were designed with pass-through and MagSafe capability so I could have a stack of bricks attached to my next Pro Max and have pass-through charging with a MagSafe accessory... Oh, and a MagSafe wallet on the very back of the six charge packs too, while we're at it!
Apple: "Hey, MagSafe Battery Pack, there's someone I'd like you to meet!"
MagSafe Battery Pack: [smiles, looks around expectantly]
Apple: "Website – this is MagSafe Battery Pack!"
Website: "It's a pleasure to meet you, MagSafe"
MagSafe Battery Pack: "Likewise! I've heard great things"
Apple: "You two will get on famously!"
Yep. Zoomed in.
***EDITED
"If someone tells you that the MagSafe Battery Pack is 1,460mAh - It’s an 11.1Wh battery, which is about the size of the iPhone 12 battery. There are TWO 1460mAh cells in it"
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I personally wanna kind of try my luck with this thing...or something similar. We'll see
Any 3rd party accessories like these are either good or total junk.
Any 3rd party accessories like these are either good or total junk.