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Apple Hits a Speed Bump by Making One

The new iPhone 6S Battery Case has a strange design

By Rain Noe - December 9, 2015

in Consumer Electronics | Tech

With no fanfare nor even a press release, Apple released a new product this week: A $99 external battery case for the iPhone 6/6S. Apple fans will be happy they can purchase a product in the Apple family to extend their battery life; Apple detractors see the case as tacit admission that the native battery isn't adequate.

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That's not the debate we're interested in, and you can read that one elsewhere. What we are interested in is the somewhat bizarre industrial design of this thing.

The last cell phone I owned whose design I considered nearly perfect, from a functionality point of view, was the Motorola Star-Tac. When folded up, it was diminutive and unobtrusive. It came with a perfectly-engineered belt-clip case that was a pleasure to slide the phone in and out of, positively locking to keep it in place, yet easy to release. (The tactility of that operation was soooo satisfying.) The phone easily flipped open in one hand. The battery was easy to remove. The buttons were too small and bit mushy, otherwise I'd rate it absolutely perfect. The designers considered nearly every facet of how the phone would actually be used.

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That phone came with everything you needed. But those days are long gone. Today when we buy a smartphone we must also purchase a protective case and the batteries are not replaceable. Most smartphones are too bulky to wear in belt clips so the common method of storage is to slide them into a pocket.

If you look at things that are meant to slide in and out of pockets—wallets, cash, automotive key fobs, disposable lighters, pens, pocketknives—you'll see they're all smooth-sided.

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Bristling key rings and baby kangaroos are the only exceptions.

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But the iPhone battery case has this bizarre hump announcing the battery's presence.

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I'm sure the design team pored over the radii and such, but there's no way that hump makes it easier to get in and out of a tight pocket than, say, Mophie's sensibly-shaped Juice Pack.

Mophie Juice Pack, image via Chip Chick

There's no way that hump helps the phone sit flat on a desk when you press the "home" button.

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So why did they do it? Apple has always done whatever they wanted to do, absent any customer feedback, taking Henry Ford's "If I ask my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse" philosophy. That was fine with me when Steve Jobs was in charge, because he actually knew what I wanted and consistently delivered it. But the Apple sheen has long since worn off for me, as poor software decisions have made their products more difficult to use. (At least for me; I find that the terrible Calendar app will spontaneously erase important information, trying to sync podcasts has become problematic, and when I tried to upgrade my MacBook Pro to the new OS, it crashed my computer and required I re-install my old system off of a back-up.)

As a design lover no longer in love with Apple, I looked to the positive: The existence of Apple and the nature of capitalism requires other companies to compete, improving the field of industrial design as a whole. The fit and finish of products by Apple's competitors is undoubtedly better than it was ten years ago; Cupertino has forced them to up their game. But this battery hump doesn't look like good design to me, or anything that anyone would want to emulate. It just looks weird and out-of-touch.

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John Chung

9 years ago

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My review:

Having just purchased this case and being an owner of a Mophie as well, I can attest that the Apple case is just plain better. Many detest the aesthetics of the Apple case but these features make it a great choice IMHO:
1. The body is a firm durometer silicone. It absorbs the impact of a drop very well. My Mophie (my third one) cracked as its made from hard plastic. The silicone case is tackier and doesn't slide off things like my lap or the dash.
2. The lip of the case barely sits proud above the glass making it less likely the screen will shatter.
3. The case is lined with a fuzzy microfiber. My Mophie would get sand or other grit in it. Every time I pulled my phone out it would create nice scratches on the phone.
4. The thin top doesn't shroud the camera/flash. Flash photos are clear. I didn't even bother shooting with flash in the Mophie as the light reflected off the deep recess and made for very foggy pics.
5. I like checking battery level by simply dragging down the notification screen instead of having to push a button to see those annoying blue LEDs. If you charge the case alone it has a small LED inside to indicate charge.
6. Speaking of annoying LEDs, my bedroom doesn't flash blue while charging on my nightstand.
7. With my higher mAmp ipad charger the case and phone charge at the same time.
8. My iphone in the Mophie is very heavy and feels like a brick in my pocket. Its huge. The Apple case is very light and compact.
9. Getting the phone into and out of the case it simple and intuitive. There are no moving parts. Previous snap in tops were either lost or broken. After installing a number of times, the Mophie top loses its barbs and it's "click."
10. The battery has enough capacity for a whole day. Many power users may be disappointed. Its plenty for my daily use.
11. The fit/finish is tight.
12. The sound quality through the case slot is a lot better than I expected.

I know this product is getting a bum rap, but if you can get over the looks and the lower battery capacity, it really is a better product than the Mophie.

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- Wayne Designer
  
  John Chung
  
  9 years ago
  
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  Thanks for the thorough review! Gave actual insight.
  
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Sean Thackston

9 years ago

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I don't hate it. I think it offers opportunities that otherwise wouldn't have presented themselves. It's cute; like a backpack for your phone. Picking it up off a table would be easier, as you'll have room underneath for a grip. There are plenty of other "fuller" options. It reminds me of that old Droid Incredible that came out a few years ago (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droid_Incredible) . I liked the look of it, as if they were actually vacuum forming the parts onto the back to get as slim a profile as possible, and I wished they had continued down that line of design.

I could just be talking crazy. I've had a Windows Phone for the last couple years...

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Daniel C

9 years ago

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To me, the fully filled-out Mophie design suggests wasted, dead space inside the housing. Sure, it might be a little more streamlined, but the apple design looks slimmer overall, and that smooth-edged bump is not going to make it terribly difficult to insert into a pocket. The home button issue is a fair point though...

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Mike Heck

9 years ago

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It's also a much lower capacity battery than other cases (Mophie) are using.

I really find it hard to believe that A) Apple couldn't get around a patent, or B) if it wasn't possible to get around, that Apple couldn't negotiate a royalty payment to Mophie to be allowed to use whatever design they wanted. Apple would hold all of the cards in that negotiation as Mophie has to pay Apple to be able to use the Lightning adapter. If Apple pulls that licensing Mophie are dead in the water.

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Denis Garmash

9 years ago

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This cute "backpack" is much better then fat smoothed battery case. Also i think its fun to put in pocket - where will be - from outside view - small cardwallet, not big iphone.

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Eitan Mendelowitz

9 years ago

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"That was fine with me when Steve Jobs was in charge, because he actually knew what I wanted and consistently delivered it."

Your memory may be a bit selective. There were poorly designed products coming out of Apple under Jobs. Here are a few that come to my mind:
the "hockey puck" mouse,
the buttonless iPod shuffle,
the "mighty mouse" with the little nubbin,
the cube with hard to reach ports and cracking plastic,

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Lev Jaskulski

7 years ago

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First congratulations for the great review.
I am a Samsung user but I want to address my dissatisfaction with the "official" power cases. When it comes to cases the brand producers don't put enough effort in design and quality at all. The price is expected but the product are failing no matter it stands for Apple or Samsung. They have a whole area for innovations with the cases. They could make so much more. Meanwhile, companies like www.iblades.com and www.nexpaq.com are doing the thing that needs to be done. Google had it for a while with the ARA but backed down and didn't released a nice case for the Pixel, though they had the knowledge and experience. Otterbox is another example of cases with an idea and great execution. I hope it won't be long until we see an official case that's worth having
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Wayne Designer

9 years ago

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I'll probably wait to actually physically hold it before doing a review off of pictures... but I'd rather have this slimmed version than the Mophie.

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Eric Strebel

9 years ago

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Really does not look attractive, be honest with your self....this is what your first product sketch looked like in design school. It really lacks any sort of form development. You can't tell me that some one (Jonathan) who puts so much thought into design could possibly think that this is acceptable and package it as product...
Yes, my reply is a bit simplistic, I realize that there are hardware issues with the phone to begin with and there are software issues to deal with as well, but form wise, it's really lacking any sort of gracefulness. I would go so far as to say, it does not even meet the apple design language of the other products it goes with.

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John Kestner

9 years ago

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Are you debating the functionality or the aesthetics? The Star-Tac may have been functionally great as you say, but it did give users the option of a larger battery that produced a less-than-beautiful hump. Likewise, Apple's giving users an option for additional battery life. I think the modular approach is valid for meeting a wide range of needs, especially now that Apple's got to reach a market of billions with a handful of models.

The Mophie may have smoother lines, but it looks like the Star-Tac next to Apple's version. While I'm surprised Apple didn't use the terraced battery as in the MacBook, providing only as much case as needed is also pretty functional.

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Tim Zarki

9 years ago

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This article seems a bit short sighted in that it fails to bring into consideration the influence of patents in the battery case market. Mophie has aggressively patented their designs to the point where Apple's freedom is quite limited. I don't think this is an attractive design, but it is an effective way of getting around that problem. See this article for more on the subject: http://www.theverge.com/2015/12/8/9872238/is-apples-smart-battery-case-mophie-patents

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Bobtato Smith

9 years ago

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To me it's just a particularly obvious example of something that's obsessed Apple's industrial design for years, namely, the use of heroic measures to make everything thin look thinner. The MacBook Air, iMac, various iPads, Apple Watch and iPhone 3* all feature humps that let the edges of the device be thinner than the overall bounding box, and this is the same thing; if the phone is sitting on a table, apart from the shadow gap, it looks like it's in a regular case. Their usual hump style (as seen on the Mophie case) wouldn't create the same effect with the dimensions involved.

I'm not defending this-- it's often a horrible choice, yielding hard-to-grip iPads, and phones with needlessly protruding cameras-- but it's totally consistent with Apple's design goals.

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David Appleman

9 years ago

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I've long missed my phone having a high spot on back upon which I could idly spin it while sitting at my desk-this solves that wonderfully.

C'mon, Im a fanboy, Im looking for any excuse I can to justify that ugly hump. Maybe the battery is actually leftover iPhone 4s that they molded a case around.

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Sidney Brinson

9 years ago

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"I wonder what it'll look like it we just vacuum form a battery to the phone..."
Thumbs down.

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