[manacit]

Personally, I really like being able to use lightweight MagSafe batteries instead of having a thicker iPhone. I used to agree with you, but the tech has gotten ridiculously good the last couple of years.

With something like https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HRY02LL/A/anker-maggo-pow..., you get a magsafe battery that doubles the life of an iPhone and can be independently recharged, and is so slim that I can put it in my pocket attached to my iPhone and not notice.

[neither_color]

The downside with these is that in scenarios where you need the extra juice, like say a guided tour all day where you'll be taking a lot of photos and putting it in your pocket, they tend to run hot and drain faster. Then you're carrying an dead extra battery. You get more mileage with a power bank + cord.

[bsimpson]

I have an Anker battery and a Peak Design case.

The wireless battery just slows the drain unless my phone is totally idle while charging. I really don't think wireless charging is very effective, at least it hasn't been with my 3yo phone and magnetic battery (even when both were new).

[aDyslecticCrow]

Isnt that just a replicable battery with extra steps?

[fragmede]

fewer steps, actually. as a user, you reach into your backpack pull out the battery pack, and put it on phone, check that it's charging, and then move on with your life. Replaceable battery, there's the extra steps of powering it off, opening up the case, taking out the old battery, putting in the new battery, closing the case, powering it on, waiting for it to boot up. So many extra steps!

[aDyslecticCrow]

You could reasonably add a howswap battery with a few minutes of charge if the screen is off, so rebooting isn't an issue.

Granted old button phones booted so fast it wasnt that different from starting. So doing that was overkill.

[crazygringo]

Is slapping the MagSafe battery on once when you buy it such an extra step it bothers you?

[alerighi]

Yes because inductive charging has a lot of losses, they are ~75% efficient, that means that you waste 1/4 of your battery capacity, and that is power that you also pay for in your electricity bill (for how it's small).

While a phone with removable battery, like it was normal back in the days, you just buy whatever number of batteries you want, when the battery is dead you replace it, and you instantly have a 100% charged phone in a matter of 10 seconds. It's surely better than a MagSafe, than a powerbank, etc.

[wltr]

Oh, I remember these days. For one of my early days smartphones — Motorola MPx — I had like three or four pieces. That was great, also I charged them with a universal battery. Remember similar times with Galaxy S3 and S4.

[itake]

Between having 2x battery built into the phone and 2x battery that detaches, I’d like the built in option.

I don’t want to deal with losing it. I don’t want to deal with carrying around 2 chargers/cables or charging both at the same time. I want the efficiencies of everything built together and not transmitted through casings

[crazygringo]

...then buy the non-Air version if you want a thicker phone? That's not being discontinued, you know.

I genuinely don't know what you're complaining about.

You're not going to lose it. It's attached. You don't need 2 chargers or 2 cables. It reverse charges wirelessly via the phone when it's plugged in.

It's an option. People usually want options, but you're complaining you only want things the way you want them, and not let other people have different options...?

[eastbound]

The non-Air iPhone still is unbalanced when putting it flat on a table.

[crazygringo]

That feels like a completely different conversation.

[thejohnconway]

They run hot, and don’t stick to the phone as well as I’d like. No, MagSafe batteries aren’t the solution for me, and I too would buy a thicker phone with more battery life.

[crazygringo]

Apple makes thicker ones. The Air isn't replacing their other phones.

[crossroadsguy]

This! This right here. It bothers me how someone can be bothered at the prospect of having to keep paying Apple more and more and more. Must an anti-extreme-innovation person. I am just waiting for the day when Apple makes a travelling generator to charge that MagSafe battery and of course those special plugs (don't forget the wire™) and stands that will be proprietary and mandatory with that (if you don't want to void the warranty or risk getting sued by Apple for publicly endangering tech made by them).

[wltr]

But that’s not like it’s an extra battery, it’s a gizmo that charges your original battery all the time, isn’t it? So technically it doesn’t make your battery bigger, but akin to keeping your phone on charge all the time. I expect it would just help you destroy that original battery, that is difficult and expensive to replace. Add some extra marketing, let them believe it’s some magical device, and kindly push them into buying a new phone when their battery dead.

I want a think iPhone with week-long battery life and the battery being easily serviceable, replaceable and ideally some unified standard one that I can buy from any decent vendor. That would be great to have. I hope we’ll come there eventually, since today phones could serve till they physically dead. If you make batteries easily serviceable, plus no software cripple with planned obsolescence.

[benoittravers]

Not at the prices the MagSafe batteries are

[beefnugs]

Do you carry these extra batteries? Or leave them in a hot car?