Apple Releases Smart Battery Cases for iPhone XS, XS Max and XR, Qi Wireless Charging Supported

[iGeneo]

I stick by my initial BWAHAHA after 1369mah reported by 9to5, that is useless. Not even close to a full charge; maybe half a charge or less depending on which device.

At least the Mophie mentioned by others for just under that price is 2000mah.

The iPhone 7 battery case even had a more sizeable 2365 mAH battery for $99.

Complete waste of $129. Less for more money, the new Apple.

Does this matter?

From Rene Ritchie at iMore

"Also, New Battery Cases have more/higher density batteries than previous generations.
They use 2 cells now instead of 1. So, you’re getting around 1.4 additional watt hours and almost 400 more milliamp hours.
BUT power efficiency is WAY more important than quantity these days"

 

[Apple_Robert]

So... only 6x the price of the other options available on the market. Modern day Apple summed up!

Cheaper doesn’t necessarily mean better, especially when it comes to X brands off Amazon and eBay.

After spending 1,500.00 on the Max, I want the Apple product accessory on my phone. I don’t want to worry about some cheaper non Apple product damaging my phone, nor do I want to flip switches etc.

 

[Bacillus]

Sure. Just like how a wireless keyboard can work with any computer, but I ultimately settled on the Smart Keyboard for my iPad Pro because it offered the best integrated solution. I am aware of what that means for me - not least that it lives and dies by my tablet, which I am sure will be an issue when it’s time to upgrade down the road. But for now, it’s the most convenient package I have found thus far, and I am prepared to hang on to my current iPad for a minimum of three years.

If you see yourself holding on to your existing phone for 2-3 years at least, it’s not that bad an idea to invest in dedicated accessories that can augment your existing user experience in a way that more generic accessories never can.

A bit more convenience here. A little less annoyance there. It quickly adds up over time.

Fine story, mostly. But the correlation with a removable iPhone battery is..?

 

[Abazigal]

Fine story, mostly. But the correlation with a removable iPhone battery is..?

That I wasn’t not exactly sure what you were taking about.

First off, it undercuts their design philosophy.

Apple is about minimalism and purity in hardware design. It's the same reason that the iPhone has four physical buttons. In the eyes of Steve Jobs and Jony Ive, perfect products are made by cutting out everything not absolutely required in the design. To them, it's about creating products that are cut down to their absolute most basic form, with nothing standing between the user and the device.

Apple products aren't about having the most features, or being the "most useful", they are about distilling out the purest mixture of form and function possible.

Remember the old iPod Nano? The one with no buttons? That's one example where the formula didn't work. No one wants a media player with no buttons. While it may have been pure in the eyes of the design, it was a useless product. In the iPhone and the latest run of iPods, Apple has found, to them, a perfect balance of form and function. The devices are beautiful products that retain full functionality.

Note the "to them" up there. It's obviously not something everyone agrees upon, but this is through the eyes of Apple's design department, not the general population. And while you may disagree, you have to admit that they're close to correct. No media device saw the success of the iPod in its heyday, because of the flawless mix of usability and beauty.

You see the same philosophy in the lack of removable battery. Apple decided that would sacrifice the integrity and the beauty of the phone were the battery removable, and they're right. Having a solid frame with an internal battery makes the phone more durable than it would be at the same form with a removable battery, and the battery lasts longer too, because it can be built larger within the phone. Why not just make the phone bigger? Because that would compromise the design principles.

Again, Apple is trying to make the most pure product possible, in their eyes. Thin, light, yet uncompromising simplicity is the goal here. That, not a huge feature list, is what Apple believes makes a product good.

Up until the iPhone, phones were devices used by phone companies to sell service plans. People talk about the "planned obsolescence" of the iPhone, because of the removable battery, but they don't remember the crap phones from more than a decade ago that fell apart if you sneezed on them. Sure, you could replace the battery, but the battery lasted like six months.

Apple's design philosophy, whether or not you agree with it, has totally reshaped the phone and computer industries over the past five years, because it works.

Sure, there are many users who want it. There are even some people who need to be able to swap out batteries on a regular basis. But Apple doesn't care about that. If they listened to what people wanted, we wouldn't have the iPhone, iPad, or anything else like them on the market. No one wanted an iPad when it was announced, until they started using them. It's sort of a niche feature, and time and time again, Apple has proved that they don't care about niche features or markets (See: 17" MBP, XServe, Mac Pro, iPod Classic, or other useful products that Apple has either discontinued or left for dead.)

 

[Bacillus]

That I wasn’t not exactly sure what you were taking about.

First off, it undercuts their design philosophy.

Apple is about minimalism and purity in hardware design. It's the same reason that the iPhone has four physical buttons. In the eyes of Steve Jobs and Jony Ive, perfect products are made by cutting out everything not absolutely required in the design. To them, it's about creating products that are cut down to their absolute most basic form, with nothing standing between the user and the device.

Apple products aren't about having the most features, or being the "most useful", they are about distilling out the purest mixture of form and function possible.

Remember the old iPod Nano? The one with no buttons? That's one example where the formula didn't work. No one wants a media player with no buttons. While it may have been pure in the eyes of the design, it was a useless product. In the iPhone and the latest run of iPods, Apple has found, to them, a perfect balance of form and function. The devices are beautiful products that retain full functionality.

Note the "to them" up there. It's obviously not something everyone agrees upon, but this is through the eyes of Apple's design department, not the general population. And while you may disagree, you have to admit that they're close to correct. No media device saw the success of the iPod in its heyday, because of the flawless mix of usability and beauty.

You see the same philosophy in the lack of removable battery. Apple decided that would sacrifice the integrity and the beauty of the phone were the battery removable, and they're right. Having a solid frame with an internal battery makes the phone more durable than it would be at the same form with a removable battery, and the battery lasts longer too, because it can be built larger within the phone. Why not just make the phone bigger? Because that would compromise the design principles.

Again, Apple is trying to make the most pure product possible, in their eyes. Thin, light, yet uncompromising simplicity is the goal here. That, not a huge feature list, is what Apple believes makes a product good.

Up until the iPhone, phones were devices used by phone companies to sell service plans. People talk about the "planned obsolescence" of the iPhone, because of the removable battery, but they don't remember the crap phones from more than a decade ago that fell apart if you sneezed on them. Sure, you could replace the battery, but the battery lasted like six months.

Apple's design philosophy, whether or not you agree with it, has totally reshaped the phone and computer industries over the past five years, because it works.

Sure, there are many users who want it. There are even some people who need to be able to swap out batteries on a regular basis. But Apple doesn't care about that. If they listened to what people wanted, we wouldn't have the iPhone, iPad, or anything else like them on the market. No one wanted an iPad when it was announced, until they started using them. It's sort of a niche feature, and time and time again, Apple has proved that they don't care about niche features or markets (See: 17" MBP, XServe, Mac Pro, iPod Classic, or other useful products that Apple has either discontinued or left for dead.)

I agree & appreciate.
But the ideal shape being a slab of glass doesn’t rule out a replaceable battery - that could annihilate the ludicrous camera bump, an anomaly far worse than a slightly thicker design.
Or, even worse, spoiling near-perfection while slapping on SpongeBob’s dead body...
If I were J. Ive, I’d rather resign or hide away for say 10 years.

 

[Abazigal]

I agree & appreciate.
But the ideal shape being a slap of glass doesn’t rule out a replaceable battery.
Conversely, with the iPhone close to perfection, why the hell spoil it with SpongeBob’s dead body ?

As I did mention above, Apple often leaves clues and hints in the design of their products. People really could spend a little more effort trying to explain those design choices, rather than explain them away.

And while the design of the battery case might seem unorthodox, it’s pretty obvious why they went the way they did with the case. You have a hump so the top remains flexible, all the easier to remove and put it on, plus the battery won’t block the antanne and affect reception.

There are the little system integrations, like the case automatically charging the phone without you needing to do anything, support for the battery widget, and the charging not triggering features that normally work when your device is charging, such as iCloud Photo Library sync.

The design is actually pretty clever when you think about it. It may not be worth 3-4 times the price of a typical phone battery case, but it does have numerous small (but nice) refinements that you won’t find anywhere else.

 

[HacKage]

Cheaper doesn’t necessarily mean better, especially when it comes to X brands off Amazon and eBay.

After spending 1,500.00 on the Max, I want the Apple product accessory on my phone. I don’t want to worry about some cheaper non Apple product damaging my phone, nor do I want to flip switches etc.

Being 6x more expensive doesn’t necessarily mean better either. There are hundreds of options available, some from very well known brands that will be of equal or greater quality.

 

[Bacillus]

As I did mention above, Apple often leaves clues and hints in the design of their products. People really could spend a little more effort trying to explain those design choices, rather than explain them away.

And while the design of the battery case might seem unorthodox, it’s pretty obvious why they went the way they did with the case. You have a hump so the top remains flexible, all the easier to remove and put it on, plus the battery won’t block the antanne and affect reception.

There are the little system integrations, like the case automatically charging the phone without you needing to do anything, support for the battery widget, and the charging not triggering features that normally work when your device is charging, such as iCloud Photo Library sync.

The design is actually pretty clever when you think about it. It may not be worth 3-4 times the price of a typical phone battery case, but it does have numerous small (but nice) refinements that you won’t find anywhere else.

I like the “clever”, but you seem unaware that it ruins the whole design philosophy, other than the solution I gave you (and several examples in the market, implementing Ive’s design philosophy better than Apple itself now)
Ive overplayed himself, much like Tim with his disastrous price policy.
Now that they let the competition overtake them, their monumentum got lost and their time is gone.
Compliments for your phrasing, but things have overgrown them. Mostly in the 5...6 years of their struggle with bezels (that are leaving a bigger footprint than supersmart electronics, just to get a phone charged)
Sadly but inevitably so.

 

[LastStarfighter]

Does anyone know the capacity on the XR case yet? Mine doesn't arrive till tomorrow and I've not seen it anywhere online yet.

 

[Abazigal]

I like the “clever”, but you seem unaware that it ruins the whole design philosophy, other than the solution I gave you (and several examples in the market, implementing Ive’s design philosophy better than Apple itself now)

I think I remember now what I was supposedly responding to in my initial reply to you.

People seem to conveniently omit the fact that a larger battery will also make the phone thicker and heavier.

I can remove the battery case when I don't need it. I can't tear away half the battery when I decide I don't need that much battery life to get a thinner and lighter device (which was my original point).

I would welcome examples of other companies whom you claim to be out-designing Apple. Last I checked, there was no lack of phone companies from China happily aping the notch design last year. So you get products which might be considered different from Apple at best, but truly better?

 

[Bacillus]

I think I remember now what I was supposedly responding to in my initial reply to you.
People seem to conveniently omit the fact that a larger battery will also make the phone thicker and heavier.
I can remove the battery case when I don't need it. I can't tear away half the battery when I decide I don't need that much battery life to get a thinner and lighter device (which was my original point).
I would welcome examples of other companies whom you claim to be out-designing Apple. Last I checked, there was no lack of phone companies from China happily aping the notch design last year. So you get products which might be considered different from Apple at best, but truly better?

Clever design with replaceable batteries at multiple capacities might offer the user a choice of thickness.
Yes, I realize choice is not in Apple vocabulary, but it is in mine.
And not all phones do compete with Apple design-wise. Just some. As of yet.
(sorry that I avoid talking about the notch - I have to think of my health)

 

[Abazigal]

Clever design with replaceable batteries at multiple capacities might offer the user a choice of thickness.
And not all phones do compete with Apple design-wise. Just some. As of yet.
(sorry that I avoid talking about the notch - I have to think of my health)

I honestly doubt there is enough of a market to make an endurance iPhone worth the effort. And I feel that Apple's definition of clever design excludes the possibility of removable batteries. Everything with them is getting more integrated, and more glued / soldered down these days, and to me, it's simply the consequence of trying to achieve the desired design outcomes (eg: thinner / lighter form factors).

The battery case they just announced is pretty much the closest you come to replaceable batteries in that regard.

If anything, I would make the rather controversial argument that perhaps the solution would be to continue to throw more money at Apple. That way, they have more incentive to further iterate and improve on their designs. If the future with Apple is a glued-down glass-and-metal box, then at least let it be the best glued-down glass-and-metal box it can be.

 

[slippery-pete]

Reality is, Apple could have put $39.99 price tag on the case and people would still complain about price. Same with design. No matter what the case looked like, people would offer “better” suggestions.

It’s human nature. Some people are happiest when they can complain about something.

 

[Bacillus]

I honestly doubt there is enough of a market to make an endurance iPhone worth the effort. And I feel that Apple's definition of clever design excludes the possibility of removable batteries. Everything with them is getting more integrated, and more glued / soldered down these days, and to me, it's simply the consequence of trying to achieve the desired design outcomes (eg: thinner / lighter form factors).

The battery case they just announced is pretty much the closest you come to replaceable batteries in that regard.

If anything, I would make the rather controversial argument that perhaps the solution would be to continue to throw more money at Apple. That way, they have more incentive to further iterate and improve on their designs. If the future with Apple is a glued-down glass-and-metal box, then at least let it be the best glued-down glass-and-metal box it can be.

Throwing more money at them will (proportionally) benefit just a fraction of development (that has no shortage on budgets) but not change their design philosophies.
Conversely, stalled sales now infer a beginning of rethinking, as should have happened 5..8 years ago.
Glue and soldered batteries/motherboards may be cheap and impact repairability (especially 3rd party) but aren't the future, as they are in direct conflict with everything Cook postulated about the environment. People are not stupid (enough) and will see that.
So I'm trying to agree with you, but it doesn't work (yet)

 

[Abazigal]

Glue and soldered batteries may be cheap and impact 3rd repairability but aren't the future, but are in direct conflict with everything Cook postulated about the environment.

It's pretty much the way to go when you are talking about wearables, where the end product is so small that it's not really feasible to make parts replaceable or readily repairable. Just look at the AirPods for example. I don't think you can make it as small and sleek as it is if you want to be able to replace the batteries inside.

Conversely, stalling sales now infer the beginning of rethinking things, as should have happened 5..8 years ago.

It will likely accelerate Apple's pivot into wearables. Which will make even more prodigious use of glue and soldered parts than ever before.

 

[Bacillus]

It's pretty much the way to go when you are talking about wearables, where the end product is so small that it's not really feasible to make parts replaceable or readily repairable. Just look at the AirPods for example. I don't think you can make it as small and sleek as it is if you want to be able to replace the batteries inside.
It will likely accelerate Apple's pivot into wearables. Which will make even more prodigious use of glue and soldered parts than ever before.

I can respect that for wearables - if there is not other choice than glue and solder
But wearables, to become a future lifeline to the company, must be sold at the scale & revenue of the iPhone before becoming its disruptive replacement (even just partly)
That's the puzzle we couldn't get solved some days ago - isn't it ?

 

[Abazigal]

I can respect that for wearables - if there is not other choice than glue and solder
But wearables, to become a future lifeline to the company, must be sold at the scale & revenue of the iPhone before becoming its disruptive replacement (even just partly)
That's the puzzle we couldn't get solved some days ago - isn't it ?

I believe we will eventually get there (give it another 4-6 years?).

https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2018/1/23/apple-watch-is-a-bridge-to-the-future

I share the writer's sentiments in that I am starting to see the Apple Watch as the first piece of a new sort of experience enabled by wearables. He posits the following changes to the Apple Watch in the near future.

1) Independent of the iPhone.
2) Better screen - enabled by AR glasses
3) Face ID (serving as a selfie camera for the Apple Watch), which might explain why Apple is pushing it so hard
4) Better health sensors
5) Siri on the wrist
6) Better integration with AirPods and homepods

Rather than see the iPhone be replaced by another singular product, could a case not be made for the iPhone to be superseded by an entire ecosystem of wearables?

It sounds crazy right now, but if anyone can pull it off, it's Apple.

 

[Bacillus]

I believe we will eventually get there (give it another 4-6 years?).

https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2018/1/23/apple-watch-is-a-bridge-to-the-future

I share the writer's sentiments in that I am starting to see the Apple Watch as the first piece of a new sort of experience enabled by wearables. He posits the following changes to the Apple Watch in the near future.

1) Independent of the iPhone.
2) Better screen - enabled by AR glasses
3) Face ID (serving as a selfie camera for the Apple Watch), which might explain why Apple is pushing it so hard
4) Better health sensors
5) Siri on the wrist
6) Better integration with AirPods and homepods

Rather than see the iPhone be replaced by another singular product, could a case not be made for the iPhone to be superseded by an entire ecosystem of wearables?

It sounds crazy right now, but if anyone can pull it off, it's Apple.

Interesting read. And I hope they come as far as possible.
And of course your picture of co-existence is correct.
The only problem is that the monetized value of wearables (yet) seems to undercut the value of the iPhone they replace. Or rephrased: what wearable will bring in $600..800 for every smartphone it replaces. iGlass + watch are candidates, but major parts of the puzzle have to get solved (screen real estate, UX !). iPhone simply is soo good.

I think this is the missing part of the puzzle.

BTW it could very well be that Apple has to shrink to survive, but that will be a very, very painful excercise (that I think they should have prevented earlier)

 

[Abazigal]

what wearable will bring in $600..800 for every smartphone it replaces.

A cellular Apple Watch + AirPods costs almost as much as an entry level iPhone.

Or maybe the smartwatch will be to the iphone what smartphones are to PCs nowadays. People will still have iPhones, just that the replacement rate drops to 4-5 years (closer to that of a PC these days).

Of course, there is always the possibly that the iPhone is simply this once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon that can never be replicated.

 

[Bacillus]

I believe we will eventually get there (give it another 4-6 years?).

https://www.aboveavalon.com/notes/2018/1/23/apple-watch-is-a-bridge-to-the-future

I share the writer's sentiments in that I am starting to see the Apple Watch as the first piece of a new sort of experience enabled by wearables. He posits the following changes to the Apple Watch in the near future.

1) Independent of the iPhone.
2) Better screen - enabled by AR glasses
3) Face ID (serving as a selfie camera for the Apple Watch), which might explain why Apple is pushing it so hard
4) Better health sensors
5) Siri on the wrist
6) Better integration with AirPods and homepods

Rather than see the iPhone be replaced by another singular product, could a case not be made for the iPhone to be superseded by an entire ecosystem of wearables?

It sounds crazy right now, but if anyone can pull it off, it's Apple.

BTW I never figured why Google Glass did flop.
What should Apple do to improve on that - and what to make it mainstream...?

 

[I7guy]

...Now that they let the competition overtake them, their monumentum got lost and their time is gone....

In what way?

 

[Bacillus]

In what way?

Every way mentioned in this thread

 

[I7guy]

Every way mentioned in this thread

So more subjectivity. Got it.

 

[Bacillus]

So more subjectivity. Got it.

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...day-iphone-sales.2165483/page-8#post-27006686
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...m-1-to-2-million.2165235/page-2#post-26999446
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ext-three-months.2164384/page-9#post-26986125

Find a new buzzword / learn how to search

 

[Abazigal]

BTW I never figured why Google Glass did flop.
What should Apple do to improve on that - and what to make it mainstream...?

I like to believe that Google Glasses flopped because it was google, just as I want to believe that Apple Glasses will succeed because it was made by Apple.

It's a running joke that you could slap an Apple logo on a turd and people will still queue up for it, and that's the whole point. With Apple, there is this implicit trust that Apple will do the core experience right. People laugh at AirPods, and Apple still sold a ton of them, and you even have celebrities willing to be seen in public with them. Because it's Apple.

What I see Apple doing here is using the iPhone to mainstream AR. While they try to find the killer AR experience that would make sense on a spectacles form factor, they are also (deliberately) exposing the limitations of using a smartphone or tablet to consume AR - namely that you have to physically hold up the device, which quickly gets tiring. Plus the screen size isn't that big.

Do you remember that WWDC demo where you had developers playing an AR slingshot game on their iPads? That looked absolutely fatiguing.

Imagine a pair of AR glasses with a screen size that is effectively your entire field of vision. You wouldn't have to hold anything up - it's there resting comfortably on your face. Interaction would be via gestures and hand movements (Face ID) and Siri. It basically "solves" all the issues inherent with AR on our mobile devices. Problems that were, in a sense, introduced by Apple.

Though if we follow the trend set by the Apple Watch, Gen 1 of the Apple Glasses will be a barely functional prototype, Gen 2 will be just useable, while Gen 3 will finally crack that elusive killer "AR app". And there, running alongside Apple as always, will be us Apple consumers.

In short, Apple will do what it does best: take an emerging product category with a frustrating user experience and deliver a polished product made possible by its control over both the hardware and software. At the same time, Apple has aggregated the best customers, who will have no problems shelling out good money for "Apple Glasses".

It's basically the Apple Watch story all over again.