So, why would anyone pay $99 for it?
“From what I can tell, the other battery packs on the market use Qi charging coils.
Theyre significantly less efficient.
Apple
The MagSafe battery pack can charge a phone roughly twice as fast.
That means less time with your phone attached to a heavy battery pack.”
Its a kind of souped-up version of the Qi chargers that work with most phones.
Apple
Some makers sell Qi-enabled battery packs, as Hoskins mentions.
Which brings us to the first advantage of Apple’s new pack.
When used as a battery pack, it charges at the same 5-watt speed as the competition.
Apple
This keeps things cool.
I guess the big advantage this battery pack has is that its a genuine MagSafe charger.
The iPhone also can reverse-charge the battery pack.
Usually, youd plug the battery pack into power, and it would charge itself and the iPhone.
But if you instead plug the iPhone into power, the same thing happens.
The iPhone charges itself, and charges the pack via MagSafe.
This reverse charging is more useful than it sounds.
“I drive a lot,” says Hoskins.
“If a battery pack goes dead while Im on the road, its basically useless.
For someone whos always on the road, this functionality is invaluable.”
Its possible that this reverse-charge feature could come to other gadgets in the future.
Imagine charging your AirPods by laying the case on the back of the iPhone.
Or charging your iPhone from an iPad.
Secret Apple Sauce
The battery pack beats the competition in some other ways, too.
Another advantage is the iPhone can optimize its charging patterns to better preserve its own battery.
Any rechargeable battery has a finite number of charge/discharge cyclesas you use the battery, its capacity shrinks.
Many folks wont know about these excellent features, but theyll enjoy their benefits nonetheless.
