Andrew O'Hara
Apple has released a new Smart Battery Case for the latest iPhones. Here are our first impressions of the newly updated accessory.
If you're familiar with Apple's previous Smart Battery Cases — released for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 7 — you'll be familiar with the new lineup. This time around, the accessory is available in black and white for the XS, XR, and XS Max. A first for the larger sized iPhones.
Instead of just updating the size, Apple went a step further and completely redesigned it to look better and be more capable than the previous iterations.
The exterior is still made of soft silicone that is easy to grip but makes it more difficult to pull out of tight pockets and has an affinity for collecting a bit of lint. A soft microfiber lining blankets the interior to help cradle your phone. Most of the case is solid, but the top portion is flexible, just as it was before. The top bends back making it dead-simple to slip the phone in or take it out.
The lower portion has a different shape than the previous model. It drops the chin that used to sit below the bottom of the phone, now fitting much tighter. The battery on the back also extends all the way to the bottom rather than stopping part way, creating an odd bump.
Apple still stuck with a Lightning port on the battery case, a choice we prefer for this accessory class. This means regardless if you have the case on or off, you only need one cable. Apple has also upgraded the charging speed so that if you use a USB-C to Lightning cable and a USB-C PD charger, it will power up much faster. If fast charging isn't your thing, use Qi wireless charging.
A lot of misinformation went around in the hours before the cases landed in consumers hands regarding the capacity. To set things straight — these new cases are the most powerful Apple has ever released.
They have a smaller 1369mAh battery internally, but instead of a large single cell as in years past, they've put two smaller cells and wired them in series. This lets them keep the amperes the same, but double the voltage, netting 10.1Wh of power. The last model Apple released for the iPhone 7 was only 8.98Wh.
We will be putting the new Smart Battery Case through its paces over the next few days for our full review, but if you are eager to get your hands on one you can pick it up now for $129.99.
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21 Comments
Thanks for the write up. I’ve found that silicone, while soft and durable, makes a poor material for cases. It tends to be too grippy. This not only makes the phone difficult to slide in and out of a pocket, etc but it also tends to grip your hands too much and in someways it paradoxically seems to make it easier for me to drop my phone. Not unlike tripping because the bottom of your shoes are really sticky.
Looks nice but too expensive just like every other iPhone accessory Apple sells.
Does it have passive antennas like previous battery case? That would be a nice addition/enhancement...that alone maybe worth the investment!
I'm most concerned with durability of the silicone case. I have a silicone case for a 6s (just traded it in for an XS yay!) and the corners wore away over the years. I'll post a pic. On the lower left you can see one corner chipped away, mostly from dropping on my desk. You can (almost) see the microfiber sticking out where there used to be silicone. Also in the upper right you can see a nick on the edge, I have no idea how that happened. It appears this mostly happens on the bottom of the case, since that's usually how I'm holding it when I drop it.
It looks like the bottom of the new battery case is rigid, but I am curious if it is flexible at all. It looks like it is rigid, maybe it has a metal housing inside to mount the lightning port. The upper part was shown to be flexible in the demo video, but it looks thicker than my old 6s case. I wouldn't mind replacing a $39 silicon case but the $129 battery case better be a lot more durable.
Also it is important that the battery case keeps the screen from touching the table when it's face down. Apple paid some attention to this in my old 6s case, it has maybe a millimeter gap, so if it falls face down it's less likely to damage the screen. I hope the rim is a bit larger on this case than my old one.
BTW, I like the silicone surface, it feels good in my hand and it's grippy enough that I like how it helps stability in gaming. It is not at all difficult to pull out of my pocket.