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Apple Briefly Mentioned AirPower Support for Smart Battery Case, Seen to Work With iPhone X

Apple Briefly Mentioned AirPower Support for Smart Battery Case, Seen to Work With iPhone X

By Jagmeet Singh | Updated: 17 January 2019 17:13 IST

Photo Credit: Twitter/ Nick Guy

The new Smart Battery Case for the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max is found to have a 10.1Wh battery

Highlights

Apple originally planned to launch AirPower mat in 2018
New Smart Battery Case can work with your iPhone X
Speaker grill won't be aligned, though

The Smart Battery Case for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR that was launched by Apple earlier this week is found to support wireless charging through the AirPower Wireless Charging Mat. The Cupertino giant hasn't yet revealed any concrete details around the availability of the AirPower charging accessory. However, the Apple Store page for the new Smart Battery Case briefly mentioned the words "AirPower Wireless Charging Mat". This hints at the sooner than expected arrival of Apple's official wireless charging solution. Separately, the battery capacity of the iPhone XS Smart Battery Case has emerged online. It has also been discovered that the Smart Battery Case for the iPhone XS can be used with the iPhone X.

As spotted by some users on Twitter and Reddit, the description on the Apple Store site for the Smart Battery Case mentioned its compatibility with the AirPower mat for a short time. The listing reportedly read, "The Smart Battery Case is compatible with AirPower Wireless Charging Mat and other Qi-certified chargers."

Apple managed to fix the description shortly after it got noticed by some users. However, as MacRumors reports, the listing for the new Smart Battery Case in Malaysia continued to have the mentioning of AirPower support for several hours. The company had pulled the references at the time of filing this story, though.

While the AirPower was initially promised to debut in 2018, Apple failed to meet its original timeline. The multi-device wireless charging device was designed to charge not just the compatible iPhone models but also Apple Watch and AirPods.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in October last year predicted that the AirPower charging mat will be available sometime in the first half of this year. However, Apple hasn't officially announced any particular launch schedule. Most recently, a report claimed the AirPower charging mat had entered production.

It seems that the marketing team at Apple was expecting the launch of the AirPower mat before the arrival of the Smart Battery Case. This could result in the inaccurate mentioning for a short while.

In related news, Nick Guy of The Wirecutter was able to reveal the capacity of the Smart Battery Case for the iPhone XS. Guy tweeted on Thursday that the case houses a battery pack rated at 10.1Wh. This is more than the 7.13Wh battery available on the Smart Battery Case designed for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s in the past.

Apple hasn't formally announced the battery capacity of the Smart Battery Case for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. However, it does show that users can expect somewhere around 47 to 75 percent longer Internet browsing times than what they get without the case, depending on the device.

As iOS developer Benjamin Mayo noted, the increase of 75 percent is for the iPhone XS, while on the iPhone XS Max, users will be able to observe 54 percent increase in their Internet browsing times, while 47 percent will be on the iPhone XR.

The latest Smart Battery Case is officially designed for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, but not for the iPhone X. Nevertheless, Rene Ritchie of iMore has noticed that users with the iPhone X can also use the Smart Battery Case meant for the iPhone XS. This is obvious as the dimensions of both iPhone models are identical.

Photo Credit: Twitter/ Rene Ritchie

The battery status of the case can also be seen from the iPhone lock screen or through the Notification Centre. Moreover, you may need to reboot your device to discard the incompatibility warning that says, "This accessory is not supported by this device." Ritchie says the case worked with an iPhone X running iOS 12.1.3 (beta version).

However, Ritchie highlighted in his tweet on Thursday that the speaker grills aren't aligned on the iPhone X. This might be the reason why Apple's support page makes the new Smart Battery Case incompatible with the iPhone X.

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Further reading: Apple Smart Battery Case, Apple iPhone XS, Apple iPhone XS Max, Apple iPhone XR, Apple AirPower, AirPower, iPhone X, Apple iPhone X, Apple