Mophie brings wireless charging to the iPhone with Juice Pack Wireless
Mophie is creating a new accessory ecosystem under its new Charge Force wireless charging brand.
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People have always bought Mophie cases to extend the battery life of their phones. But you'll soon be able to add a new feature to the Mophie list: wireless charging.
That's right, along with the previously released wireless Juice Packs for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, the company has now released the Juice Pack Wireless for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s and the Plus versions of both phones. You can pick up these iPhone cases at Apple stores and Best Buy. All of Mophie's cases will offer wireless charging in future.
Both new iPhone Juice Packs cost $100 and provide a little more than 50 percent additional battery life. The cases come bundled with a wireless charging base that's compatible with virtually all wireless phones, accessories, and charging standards, including Qi. So the value proposition here is that you're getting a Mophie battery case, plus wireless charging for the same price as Apple's Smart Battery Case, which provides a similar boost to battery life.
How does it work? The battery cases are magnetically attached to the charging base, as well as to Mophie's new Charge Force desk mount and Charge Force car vent mount. I'm still waiting on official pricing, but the mounts are expected to cost around $40, which converts to about £30 or AU$55.
Right now those mounts are the only additional Charge Force accessories announced but Mophie sees this as a budding wireless charging ecosystem that may someday include other accessories that magnetically attach to the case.
If you own any of Samsung's more recent Galaxy smartphones, you'll know that wireless charging circuitry is built into the phone, though you do need to buy a wireless charging base to use it. And while wireless charging may not be an essential feature, it does make charging a little easier. More businesses, such as Starbucks, are now offering wireless charging stations to their customers.
Check back for a more in-depth review of the cases when there's a review sample available. For now, my early impressions from briefly handling the cases are that they look and feel very similar to previous Mophie battery cases.
Mophie did tell me that it will offer Juice Packs with higher capacity batteries that will be thicker and heavier. However, at launch it's focusing on this slimmer $100 product.