With Spring and Summer travel plans starting up in just a few weeks, I decided to look into upgrading MagSafe battery I use with my Apple iPhone.  When I travel, I’m typically using my phone pretty heavily – usually for navigation.  If I don’t use some sort of external source, I’ll likely drain the battery entirely before the end of the day.  For the last few years I’ve been using the Anker MagGo 622 and I’ve been reasonably happy with it.  Which is to say it meets my minimum requirements – it connects to my phone without adding so much size and weight to be inconvenient to use my phone and carry it in my pocket, and it allows me to heavily use my phone all day (morning until bed time) without needing a recharge.  That said, the model 662 unit typically drains completely before the end of the day.  And in my experience it’s not great for bringing your battery level once you’ve significantly depleted it.  It will normally keep my phone in the vicinity of 90-98% charged if I attach it when I’m at 100%.  And since the 662 doesn’t last all day, I’ll usually get back to the hotel with around 80% charge on my phone battery to may be as low as 60%.  I’ll confess to having some “low battery phone anxiety” – I generally don’t like to see my battery below 90%.  Particularity when I travel, and especially when I’m in a foreign country.

Fortunately, Anker is now offering an upgraded model with double the battery capacity as the old 622 model, without adding much to the size and weight – the new Anker MagGo Power Bank Ultra Slim:

Here’s some specifications of the old 622 model and the new Power Bank Ultra Slim:

Anker 622 Magnetic Battery (MagGo):

• Capacity: 5,000 mAh, providing approximately 0.8 charges for an iPhone 13.

• Dimensions: 4.13 x 2.62 x 0.5 inches.

• Weight: 5 ounces.

• Features: Built-in foldable stand for easy viewing, USB-C input/output port.

Anker MagGo Power Bank Ultra Slim (Model A1664):

• Capacity: 10,000 mAh, effectively doubling the capacity of the 622 model.

• Dimensions: Approximately 4.1 x 2.8 x 0.6 inches.

• Weight: Around 7 ounces.

• Features: Qi2 certified for 15W fast wireless charging, bidirectional 30W USB-C port for both input and output, LED power indicators, and an ergonomic design.

The newer MagGo Power Bank offers a significant boost in capacity and charging speed with only a slight increase in size and weight. It’s designed to provide more power on the go without compromising portability. About the only thing you lose with the Power Bank Ultra Slim relative to the older model is that the 622 includes a foldable stand.  The stand comes in handing not only for watching content on your phone, but also video chats and believe it or not, photography.

The new Power Bank Ultra Slim makes up for the loss of the foldable stand with charging utility.  The old Anker 622 model I have had a capacity of 5,000 mAh and charged at a paltry 7.5w via wireless MagSafe.  That means it could extend the battery life of an iPhone 16 Pro by about .8 or 80%.  Again, enough to get through an entire day of heavy usage.  The new Power Bank Ultra Slim doubles the capacity to 10,000 mAh, and doubles that output to 15w which makes a huge difference.  The new model should charge twice as fast as the old.  The added capacity means you can get about 1.70 charges for an iPhone Pro.  But the Ultra Slim is also a true power bank portable battery – you don’t have to just use it via wireless MagSafe.  The single USB-C port on the Power Bank Ultra Slim is bi-directional which means you use this same port when you’re plugged in to recharge it but can also use it to charge another device via USB-C.  Use it on your iPhone and you double your charging speed – 30w as compared to 15w via wireless MagSafe.  That’s four times the charging speed of the older Anker 622!  And the added capacity means you should have power to space if you wanted to charge other devices, like Air Pods, an Apple Watch, or even a camera.

So far, the Power Bank Ultra Slim has functioned as expected and I’m extremely pleased with my purchase.  Of course, the real test is coming up in a couple of weeks as I head out on my first trip of the year to Europe.  Don’t think for a minute that I’m going to abandon my Anker MagGo 622 – it’s too lightweight and has too much utility not to carry it with me along with the newer MagGo Power Bank Ultra Slim.  Bringing both Anker MagGo units with me gives me lots of portable charging options when traveling – options are good.

Here’s the video supplement to my written photo review: