The Cupertino company on Tuesday joined a cadre of accessory makers³ and released a new battery case for its smartphone. The $100 case, designed for the iPhone 6s, the smaller of the two current iPhone models, promises to boost the device's talk time to 25 hours and its Internet time over the cell phone networks to 18 hours. Without the battery pack, Apple promises the phone will give 14 hours of talk time and 10 hours of Internet usage. But many owners find that they often get less than that.

 

The case's design seems a bit out of step with Apple's typical aesthetic⁴. It only comes in two colors -- white and black. And rather then mimicking⁵ the slick, thin design of the phone and other Apple products, it packs the battery in a bulge⁶ on the back.

 

The case does offer some advantages over its competitors. An iPhone can recognize when it is attached to the case, and when it displays its remaining battery power, it will reflect the boost the case provides. To ensure that it doesn't degrade a users' cell phone signal, the case includes a built-in antenna⁷. And unlike many cases, it can be charged with the same Lightning cable that is used to power the iPhone itself.

 

But other battery cases and battery backups provide far more power for the same or less money. While Apple's battery case has a 1877 mAh battery, Mophie's Juice Pack Reserve has one that's nearly as big - 1840 mAh - but costs just $60. For $100, users can get Mophie's Juice Pack Air, which has about 50 percent more battery power than Apple's case. Oh, and Mophie and other manufacturers also offer battery cases for iPhone 6s Plus; Apple isn't making one for it's jumbo-sized phone.

 

And that's not to mention that some other phones offer much longer battery life without needing an extra case. Motorola's Droid Maxx 2 has a built-in 3630 mAh battery - which is more than double the reported capacity of the iPhone 6s's battery. Maybe Apple could think about making more room for a battery inside of its phones, instead of making them ever thinner.

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