The iPhone Air offers surprisingly good battery life for users with light to moderate daily use. However, if you're going to be away from a charger for an extended period of time, especially while traveling, you'll probably want to carry extra power with you.
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Apple has created a custom MagSafe Battery for the iPhone Air, which fits just below the camera bump on the back of the phone. Another competitor in this space is Anker, with the Anker Nano Power Bank, which promises 5,000mAh capacity at half the price of Apple's offering.
The Apple MagSafe Battery has a luxurious feel, made of soft-touch plastic and a rubber-lined front plate that fits smoothly onto the back of iPhone Air. It’s just 6.5mm thick, but it covers the entire width and height of iPhone Air, right down to the camera bump. It’s small enough to fit while the Air is in a Bumper Case.
The Apple MagSafe Battery has no visible buttons or indicators. When connected to a power source, it features a single LED that briefly glows amber or green to indicate charging status. When connected to iPhone Air, you can see the current MagSafe battery percentage in the iOS Batteries widget, along with a dedicated MagSafe animation on the lock screen.
The Anker Nano feels sturdy, made from the same plastic material on each side. The back facing outwards features a subtle Anker logo, with regulatory text printed on one side. It comes in black, white or green.
The other side has a button that, when pressed, lights up a strip of four LEDs that indicate the current battery charge status in 25%. These LEDs also light up when the portable battery is connected, allowing you to see the charge status from a distance.
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The Anker Nano is shorter than the Apple MagSafe Battery, smaller in width and height but slightly thicker (8.6mm). When attached to the iPhone Air, the bottom of the Nano is slightly inward from the bottom of the phone, making it slightly more difficult to align with Apple's MagSafe magnets, though this isn't a major problem in practice.
Magnetic power banks are convenient because you can easily attach them to the back of your phone for charging. However, wireless charging is inherently less efficient than wired charging. The listed capacities of wireless power banks represent the size of the battery's internal cell, but the actual energy transferred to charge your phone is different, with around 30% energy loss expected with wireless charging.
This is especially important for the iPhone Air, which gets noticeably warm when charging with any method. Apple says the MagSafe Battery has special software integration to optimize charging. So it was worth investigating whether Apple's custom battery for the iPhone Air would outperform the Anker Nano in terms of charging efficiency.
The Anker Nano is advertised as having a capacity of 5,000 mAh. Apple doesn't publish the mAh of its MagSafe battery, but teardowns have revealed that it contains a 3,149 mAh battery, similar to the one found in the iPhone Air. Apple's product information indicates that the battery will add about 65% more charge to the iPhone Air.
See also: Best portable battery for iPhone Air: Apple MagSafe Battery vs Anker Nano
Apple's battery is more efficient, but not enough to overcome the Anker Nano's extra capacity.
