GoKawiilThe iPhone Air has surprisingly good battery life for users with light-to-medium daily usage habits. But if you are going to be away from a charger for a long time, especially going travelling like on a plane, you’ll probably want to carry some extra juice with you.
Apple has made its custom MagSafe Battery for iPhone Air, that fits precisely beneath the camera plateau on the back of the phone. But another big competitor in this space is Anker, with the Anker Nano Power Bank in a similar size promising 5,000 mAH capacity at half the price of Apple’s offering. But how much extra battery life should you actually expect to get from these power banks, and which is best?
Apple MagSafe Battery design
The Apple MagSafe Battery feels quite premium. It is made of soft-touch plastic with a very rubbery cushioned front plate, that pops smoothly onto the back of the iPhone Air. The battery is only 6.5mm thin, but takes up basically the entire width and height of the iPhone Air up to the camera plateau region. It is just small enough such that you can easily attach it while the Air is inside a Bumper case.
The Apple MagSafe Battery has no visible buttons or indicators. If you connect it to a power source, it has a single LED that briefly shines orange or green to indicate charging status.
When connected to the iPhone Air, you can view the current percentage of the MagSafe battery in the iOS Batteries widget. You also get an exclusive MagSafe lock screen animation.
Anker Nano design
The Anker Nano feels solid, with the same plasticky material used on every face of it. The outward-facing back features a subtle Anker logo, with all the regulatory legal text printed on one side. You can get it in black, white or green color options.
The other side has one button, which when you press it lights up a strip of four LEDs that indicate current charge status of the battery, in 25% increments. They also light up when the power bank is plugged in, so you can glance over from across the room and see if it has finished charging.
It is stubbier than the Apple MagSafe Battery, meaning it is smaller in width and height but a little thicker in return (8.6mm). As shown in the photo above, when attached to the iPhone Air, the bottom of the Nano is slightly inset from the bottom of the phone. This makes it slightly harder to align to the MagSafe magnets than Apple’s, but it’s not a big deal in practice.
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