Apple Reportedly Prepping New Smart Battery Case For iPhone XS And iPhone XR

by Brandon Hill — Friday, December 07, 2018, 03:39 PM EDT

Way back in late 2015, Apple released its first Smart Battery Case intended for use on the iPhone 6s. Priced at $99, the device boosted overall runtimes for the device to 25 hours, but was widely mocked for its ghastly battery "hump" which looked totally out of place with absolutely no attention paid to aesthetics. Things didn't improve with the Smart Battery Case for the iPhone 7.

Now it looks as though Apple is ready to take another stab at the accessory three years after it launched the original. Guilherme Rambo did some digging into watchOS 5.1.2 and found a fresh icon that depicts a new Smart Battery Case. This time around, as you can see by the pill-shaped cutout for the rear cameras, this case looks to be destined for the iPhone XS.

However, it looks as there might actually be three SKUs available -- A2070, A2071 and A2171 -- to cover the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and the iPhone XR. This is just an assumption on our parts, but we'd also reckon that the iPhone XS SKU will be compatible with last year's iPhone X given the extremely close dimensions between the two phones.

Although we can't tell much from the single image of the new Smart Battery Case, it does look like the actual "battery" portion of the accessory is better integrated and doesn't seem like an afterthought.

Apple Smart Battery Case — **The original Smart Battery Case for the iPhone 6s**

According to Rambo, Apple plans to release all three new Smart Battery Cases this month, so expect to see the accessories available via the online Apple Store within the coming weeks. As for pricing, the original case is still priced at $99, but given Apple's penchant for jacking up prices (the Apple Pencil went from $99 to $129), we wouldn't be surprised to see the Smart Battery Cases for the iPhone X/XS/XR priced at $129 and potentially $159 or higher for the iPhone XS Max.

Tags: Apple, (NASDAQ:AAPL), smart battery case, iphone x, iphone xs, iphone xs max, iphone xr

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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