“I spend my days taunted by a battery icon, petrified that my iPhone 6s will be out of juice before I am,” Joanna Stern writes for The Wall Street Journal. “You know who I blame for my battery anxiety disorder? Obviously not me, and my excessive checking of email and social media. I point the finger at Apple, and its insistence on compromising battery life for phone slimness.”
“On Tuesday, the company finally admitted that heavy iPhone 6 or 6s users like me could use more power — at least as much as you get with the bigger iPhone 6s Plus. Apple’s $99 Smart Battery Case… [offers an] integrated battery nearly doubles your battery life so you avoid scurrying around for an electrical outlet like a rodent in search of scraps,” Stern writes. 
“Here’s the best part about the design: There are no blinking LED lights on the case to tell you how much power is remaining. As soon as you attach it, the percentage of power remaining in the phone and the case is displayed on the iPhone’s lock screen. You can also see both battery levels by swiping down in the notification center. Apple even integrated a passive antenna into the case so cellular reception doesn’t suffer,” Stern writes. “There’s no on/off switch because it knows your iPhone’s battery level. Put it on a phone that’s running low, and it’ll charge it up. Begin the day with both the case and the phone topped off at 100%, and it will drain the case before using power from the phone.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like a winner for iPhone 6/6s users!
Hint: Another way to dramatically extend your iPhone’s battery life is to get yourself an Apple Watch. Subtract that $100 you’re considering dropping on Apple’s battery case from the price of an Apple Watch. 😉
SEE ALSO:
Apple releases Smart Battery Case for iPhone 6/6s, adds up to 25 hours of power – December 8, 2015
Apple Watch increases iPhone battery life significantly; likely to affect future iPhone purchasing decisions – May 22, 2015
it’s a bit expensive…interesting that they decided to do this. i would just offer a bigger iphone as an option.
That is an interesting idea. Instead of just having extra storage, let people choose longer battery life (and thickness/weight) as purchase options. Unlike a bump up from their ridiculously low entry point of 16 GB, I’d actually not mind paying $100 to double battery life, as long as Apple doesn’t purposely drop down from today’s 6/6s baseline battery life. Heck, this case alone is $100, and it’s uglier than a slightly thicker iPhone would be.
That would provide a true measure of how much people truly value battery life.
(Of course then we’d have to deal with different size 3rd party cases…)
It is not like iPhone battery life is getting shorter with successive generations. It is still a day with normal use.
The hardest drain is when you are in unfamiliar areas or are traveling. The battery takes a big hit when that happens. If you are a road warrior then taking portable chargers with you is a must.
I spent £10 on an external battery. It doesn’t give me a full extra charge, but about 60% which is more than enough to get me through an entire day and night. I can also use it to charge other devices if I need to and it includes a torch for emergencies (yes my phone has one admittedly). It’s really small and I just stick it in my bag and forget about it. Id’ rather have that and a nice case than this overpriced piece of ugly.
But what about the UGLY?
One really ugly design, instead of designing a bit thicker iPhone for bigger battery, Apple compensate for a battery case. Is this designed by Apple in Cupertino or by a pregnant designer ?
An even better way to save money is to continue to use my 4 year old iPhone (they still work well after four years unlike the Android phone I was gifted years ago), and get a $20 batter case from ebay.
What an ugly product!
Wow, Apple. Just plain out old WOW. How, how, did this thing get through?
U ndesirable
G od awful
L ump of
Y uck
Battery life is not the problem, smartphone addiction is the problem. I have no issues with my iPhone 6+ lasting two, full days on most occassions. Addicts try to project their deplorable behavior on outside factors (in this case battery life), when their own, sick behavior is what’s wrong.