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Apple Launches $99 MagSafe Battery Pack

jclardy said:
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.
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I don't think I'll be buying it when I upgrade to the 13 this September (got a XS atm) and I'll instead opt for the Anker one instead.

But I do think going with lightning here rather than USB-C makes sense - if you're an iPhone user, you're more likely to have a lightning cable along with your phone than you are a USB-C one.
 
PhillyGuy72 said:
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.

View attachment 1805821
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Worth considering the Anker one instead? It is more expensive and has less capacity but I'd personally feel more comfortable using that than this one:
www.amazon.co.uk

Anker Power Bank, 521 Magnetic Portable Charger (PowerCore Magnetic 5K), 5000 mAh Magnetic Wireless Power Bank with USB-C Cable, for iPhone 14 Series and iPhone 13 Series

Anker Power Bank, 521 Magnetic Portable Charger (PowerCore Magnetic 5K), 5000 mAh Magnetic Wireless Power Bank with USB-C Cable, for iPhone 14 Series and iPhone 13 Series
www.amazon.co.uk
 
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OrlandoTragic said:
1,460mAh for $99 is a complete joke. Fantastic looking hardware but nah, I’ll pass. My clunky battery pack I have now has literally over 10x the charging power for half the price.
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This is 1460mAh @ 7.6 volts, or equivalent to a 2920mAh 3.8V battery, so almost the same as the iPhone 12/12 Pro battery. mAh isn’t a useful metric of direct comparison unless the output voltage is the same. You should use Wh (which is Ah*V) instead.
 
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An interesting device, but I think they would have been better to make more of their smart battery phone cases like they used to do. With extra batteries built in. 5 watt is rather slow charging and it's a low capacity too, however for the iPhone Mini owners it will be a very useful add on.
 
How pathetic. Rather than making a phone with say, oh I dont know, a bigger battery, Apple once again decides to nickel & dime the faithful with an ugly hump on the back of the iPhone (gee, where have I seen this before 🤔) that won't even do a full charge.

Rofl
 
GuilleA said:
Only 1,460 mAh and 5w charging? It'll take hours to get a decent charge. This is a $20 battery, tops.
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Stealing from another commenter:
"This is 1460mAh @ 7.6 volts, or equivalent to a 2920mAh 3.8V battery, so almost the same as the iPhone 12/12 Pro battery. mAh isn’t a useful metric of direct comparison unless the output voltage is the same. You should use Wh (which is Ah*V) instead."
 
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Correct me if I’m wrong… if your iPhone charges the battery pack when it’s plugged in, that’s reverse wireless charging, right? I wish Apple would fully unlock this feature.
 
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I bought the Anker one months ago and it works Amazingly and has more math than the Apple one for half the price.

www.amazon.com

Anker 521 Magnetic Battery (PowerCore Magnetic 5K), 5000 mAh Magnetic Wireless Portable Charger with USB-C Cable, for iPhone 13/12 Series (Black)

Model Number: A1619 PowerCore Magnetic 5K The Snap-and-Go Portable Wireless Charger Snap-and-Go Charging The next evolution of wireless charging. PowerCore attaches to the back of your phone magnetically to transmit a coil-to-coil 5W wireless charge. Made for iPhone 12 Designed specifically for u...
www.amazon.com
 
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Meh, over priced and not very creative.

Weeks ago I picked up a Zeera mag safe pack, it included a sweet folding stand, perfect for facetiming etc. It's black and so far looks and works great.
 
msackey said:
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 hear you! I’m SO tempted. But since I already have a USB-C cable with me with my iPad Pro, it’s a wash. I’m actually gonna try the Mophie battery because it’s actually MagSafe and it’s the same size battery. Will choose one of these…even though I LOVE the Apple integration. Just can’t justify the extra $50.
 
If I saw anyone with one of these facehuggers attached to their phone, I would be hard pressed not to LOL.
 
This looks cool, but I think personally if I'm carrying around an external battery I'd pick one with standard connectors that can also recharge other things I own.
 
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