Philip Houska Many Apple fans have already tried out or at least previewed the new iPhone charging case with the name Smart Battery Case. It has caused a lot of commotion in the apple world, and social networks are abuzz with jokes about Apple itself regarding the launch of this "least attractive accessory".
The reaction that the company's chief designer Jony Ive must have been on vacation and that Apple's design is going from ten to five was truly blessed. Editor-in-chief of the magazine The Verge However, Nilay Patel looked at the possible reasons why the Smart Battery Case for iPhone 6S looks as unappealing as it does.
Any case with a built-in battery is not very comfortable for daily use. It adds thickness to the phone and increases its dimensions in general, in addition, it often interferes with the use of headphones, for example, and devices with an additional battery "on the back" simply do not look very elegant. So far, this has been the case for most third-party battery covers, and Apple itself has now created exactly the same accessory, which usually more than tolerates a unique style.
So why does its Smart Battery Case look the way it does? The patents of the Mophie company, which produces a number of docks, cables and covers, but is mainly known as a brand that produces cases with built-in batteries, are most likely responsible for everything. Therefore, Mophie has many patents related to their production, and Apple had to follow them willy-nilly.
The patent under number is worth mentioning #9,172,070, which was granted and approved in mid-October. It contains information about what such a cover looks like. According to him, the packaging consists of two parts. On the one hand, from the bottom part, into which the iPhone, including its connectors, is inserted, and which also has high sides, in which we find, for example, the on/off buttons. The second, upper part of the package is removable.
So in practice it looks like if there is a case where the phone slides into the bottom part and then "snaps" with the other part, it infringes Mophie's patent. That's why Apple created a one-piece case where the top bends slightly and the phone slides into it. The uniform packaging can be more elegant, but what is the main thing - it does not violate Mophie's patents.
However, this is only one example of many, as Mophie has accumulated quite a lot of patents regarding charging cases over the years. That's why when you research the charging case market, few companies offer the same mechanisms as Mophie. You won't find many cases with the same removable parts, and if you do, they're usually small manufacturers that (at least to Mophie's lawyers) aren't worth talking about.
Apple could indeed create a charging cover that would be split into two parts, but in a way that would probably be even worse than the current solution. At least how some other companies suggest, which tried to circumvent Mophie's patents. The engineers at Apple managed to create a product that may not be made of plastic and does not look particularly cheap, but its appearance certainly does not evoke love at first sight. This is primarily a matter of expediency.
However, Apple apparently had no other option – if it really wanted to release its own cover with an additional battery and wanted to comply with patent laws. Sure, the design could be different, but it definitely had to be fundamentally different from the popular Mophie Juice Packs and other products of this brand. Compared to many other companies, Apple still has the upper hand in terms of design, although it certainly does not put its Smart Battery Case in the imaginary display case of the most successful designs.
He shouldn't have released it at all.
I agree, completely unnecessary and disgusting. Rather, if they made a nice power bank with the appropriate connectors - that's a scarce commodity.
Has Apple run out of money that it can't buy the company with the patents?
so it didn't go well...
I can imagine a 1-2 mm thicker iPhone with a battery life of, say, 3 days. They could be sold in parallel and the customer would choose.
Jony Ive should take a permanent vacation.
It's really disgusting. At the same time, it would certainly be a better solution if the iPhone were not so extremely thin. Because of this, most people get some kind of cover to even hold it in their hand…. If there was a choice to buy the current iPhone or maybe even 5 mm thicker, but with three times the battery capacity, I am convinced that most people would rather buy the stronger one and they would cough up some "razors". And then they wouldn't have to deal with such "monstrosities"... :-)
if they made a proper phone and not a scumbag that holds up stupidly, controls stupidly and has a sparkler life, they wouldn't have to come up with such nonsense
Classics. I have a Note 3. The phone is a bit smaller than the iP6 Plus. You can't hold it without a flip case. Fortunately, Samsung has an S Cover that you snap on instead of the back cover and it holds the phone perfectly. In addition, the phone knows that it has the cover on and displays information in the transparent window. That cover is as thick as the Note 3 and the phone with the cover is 1cm thick. If the Note 3 were thicker, I would still have to keep it in the case and then it would be 12-13mm in total. And that's enough. It seems to me that fast charging is better than a super large battery, when I can get to 50 percent of the battery in half an hour. In addition, I can connect many mobile phones to the dock or place them on the wireless charging pad and the phone will still be charged. If I'm out somewhere without the possibility of charging, a power bank with some kind of fast charging is probably better. It's just that flashlights go bad over time, and then it's better to have a user-replaceable battery. The Note 3 battery costs me less than 400. As long as the battery quality is as it is, I don't want a phone without a replaceable battery. Unfortunately, there is no longer a choice for flagships. Almost all of them have metal unbreakable phones. It's a harness. Otherwise, the original Mophie iPhone case is quite a nice case. This is a mistake.