Apple today released tvOS 9.1 for the new Apple TV. Betas have included Siri support for controlling Apple Music, which Apple first said would be available for customers by early next year. 

Apple released the first software update to the new Apple TV, tvOS 9.0.1, in mid November. The update delivered no new features or visual changes, instead likely focusing on bug fixes and performance improvements.

New Apple TV owners have awaited a few features from the third-gen Apple TV that will hopefully come to the new box including Remote app support from iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches, Bluetooth keyboard support for entering complicated passwords especially at setup, and Apple’s Podcasts app, which has been seen in promotional material but not yet released.

Will dig through the latest version and update this post.

Filed under: Apple TV, Developers Tagged: Apple Music, Apple TV, Apple TV 4, Bluetooth, bluetooth keyboard, Podcasts, remote, remote app, Siri, tvOS, tvOS 9.0.1, tvOS 9.1

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Apple today released iOS 9.2 for iPhones and iPads after several versions of testing. The point update so far has included improvements to Safari including an improved Safari View Controller for viewing websites within apps and easily dismissing them afterwards, the addition of Arabic language support with the Siri voice assistant for the first time, and more.

Previous betas of iOS 9.2 also included AT&T’s new NumberSync feature for iPhone subscribers on their network. This feature allows you to use your other connected devices to send and receive text messages and make phone calls using your phone number even when your iPhone isn’t nearby. More recent betas have removed the feature, however, as NumberSync isn’t set to launch until early next year.

Apple first started allowing developers and public beta testers to try iOS 9.2 beta in late October. The previous release version of the iPhone and iPad software, iOS 9.1, was released around the same time and included over 150 new emoji characters, improvements to Live Photos on Apple’s newest iPhones, and updated space-themed wallpapers.

Filed under: iOS Tagged: Arabic, AT&T, iOS, iOS 9, ios 9.2, iOS 9.2 beta, iOS 9.2 beta 5, iPad, iPhone, NumberSync, Safari, Safari View Controller, Siri

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OS X El Capitan 10.11.2 is now available in the Mac App Store all users. The software update has been in testing through the developer and public beta program since late October, going through five pre-release versions, and today all Mac users capable of running the latest Mac operating system.

Filed under: Mac Tagged: 10.11.2, Mac, os x el capitan

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Apple is currently planning a March 2016 event to unveil the second-generation Apple Watch, according to sources with knowledge of the plans. The second version of the Apple Watch would then ship by April, nearly a year after the original model first went on sale. Apple has also been working on a new “iPhone 6c” with a 4-inch display, which also could appear at this event, according to the sources…

Apple began to develop technologies destined for future Apple Watch models long before the first generation even shipped. As we previously reported, Apple has been working on new camera, wireless, sleep tracking, and health sensor technologies for the wearable device, but it is currently unclear which of these additions are will appear on the model planned to be introduced in March. Apple last updated the device in September with new colors, bands, and software features.

The iPhone 6c would enable Apple to continue to use smaller 4-inch displays, which were first introduced with the iPhone 5 in 2012 and continue to be used in the iPhone 5s and sixth-generation iPod touch. Some Apple users have explained that they prefer the smaller size to the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s and 5.5 iPhone 6s Plus displays as it is easier to use with one hand. The device’s technical specifications will fall somewhere between the iPhone 5s and iPhone 6s, with rumors suggesting that the phone may preserve earlier iPhone camera features while including the new iPhone A9 chip.

A March event in 2016 would be the second March event in a row for Apple, marking a shift from the company solely holding major events in the second half of each calendar year. At last year’s March event, Apple debuted the 12-inch MacBook, unveiled the ResearchKit iPhone framework, and finalized the first version of the Apple Watch. Previous to this year, Apple’s last March event was in 2012 to announce the first iPad with a Retina display.

Filed under: iOS Devices

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I’ve been an iOS user since day one — back when it was called “iPhone OS” — and haven’t had any reason to leave Apple’s camp. Each day, I use iOS devices and apps, and for the most part, they “just work.” You could offer me a cheap Android phone or tablet and I wouldn’t have much use for it.

Or so I thought. Just in time for the holidays, 9to5’s publisher Seth Weintraub sent me an unexpected gift: a $99 Motorola Moto G (2nd Gen). That price isn’t a typo — for under $100 (half the price of the recently released sixth-generation iPod touch), Motorola is selling a full-fledged smartphone with a larger, higher-resolution screen than the $199 iPod, and for that matter the old iPhone 5c I decided to replace it with. You’ve probably heard that Amazon is trying a similar tactic with its $49 7″ Fire Tablets, which so radically undercut the price of Apple’s iPads that you can buy five for the same price as an entry-level iPad mini 2… and still have change left over. Since these products were developed by well-established companies, they’re budget-priced, but not junk.

I wanted to see whether the Moto G would have any value in my life, and how it would stack up against lower-end iOS devices. What I found was exactly the reason Apple leads the cellular industry in profits yet continues to lag behind Android in market share: the Moto G offers a more than “good enough” alternative at a price that anyone can afford. From my perspective, the existence of a good $99 smartphone is precisely the reason the iPod family has all but disappeared, and why even iPad mini pricing is arguably unsustainable…

What You Get For $99 From Motorola

• An Actual Smartphone With Solid Specs. For $199, Apple sells a 16GB iPod touch with a 4″ screen, one speaker, a 1.2MP front camera, 8MP rear camera with f/2.4 aperture, and a dual-core A8 processor. For $99, the Moto G includes a 5″ screen, stereo speakers, a 2MP front camera, a 8MP rear camera with f/2.0 aperture, and a quad-core Snapdragon CPU. The iPod touch depends on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for all of its wireless functionality; Moto G also has GSM cellular hardware built-in, plus GPS, a non-trivial addition.

• A Wall Charger with Micro-USB tip. Apple bundles every iPod touch with a pair of EarPods headphones and a Lightning cable; Motorola bundles Moto G with a micro-USB-tipped wall charger, but neither headphones nor a standard micro-USB cable, both of which can be purchased very inexpensively.

Where Moto G Beats The iPod Touch (And Arguably The iPhone 5c)

• Price. In the consumer electronics world, certain price points are considered “magical” to spur sales — $299, $249, $199, $149, $99, and $49 are some of the best-established levels that bring in new customers. At $99, the Moto G is practically an impulse buy by CE standards, cheap enough to be nearly disposable. Apple won’t even sell you a not-particularly-great iPod nano for $99.
• Expandability. Motorola ships Moto G with a super-limited 8GB of storage capacity, but supports the addition of up to 32GB of removable microSD storage, for a total of 40GB at a time. Unlike Apple, which charges a $100 premium over the 16GB iPod touch for the 32GB model, you can get SanDisk 32GB microSD cards now for $10. I found an unused and forgotten 32GB microSD card sitting in a drawer — they’re that cheap.

• Screen. Moto G has a 5-inch, Retina-caliber display with 1280×720 resolution at 294ppi — an inch bigger than the iPod touch (or iPhone 5c), but with just enough extra pixels to hover right around Apple’s “Retina” level. The screen’s bright, colorful, and sharp; no iPod or budget iPhone user would have any room to complain about it. With most apps and games, it looks just like using a larger version of Apple’s iPod touch and iPhone 5c screens, sometimes with more real estate, sometimes with bigger objects.

• Accessory Compatibility. Moto G’s micro-USB port and Bluetooth 4 support make it compatible with thousands of audio, car, power, and other accessories — pretty much every USB or Bluetooth accessory the iPod touch works with, minus the need for Lightning cables. Since it supports 1.5-Amp charging, it also recharges very quickly, despite having roughly twice the battery capacity (2,070mAh) of the iPod touch (1,043mAh). (Apple caps iPods at 0.5-Amp charging and older iPhones at 1-Amp charging.)

• It Works As A Phone, Communication & GPS Device On The Road. So long as you self-supply a SIM card, Moto G can be used to make cellular phone calls and connect to the Internet using a cellular data plan. It can also be used for mapping, including the integrated Google Maps application, since Motorola actually includes A-GPS hardware inside; no iPod touch has that feature.
• It Doesn’t Feel Like It’s Going To Dent or Shatter The First Time You Drop It. I personally really like the iPod touch’s aluminum housing, which is highly similar to the latest iPads and iPhones, only smaller. But I would never even consider taking an iPod touch out of the house without putting a case on it. Moto G’s detachable plastic back doesn’t just feel more drop-safe than the iPod’s metal housing — it’s entirely replaceable with your choice of colorful rear shells ($15) or front and rear ($30) shells.
• A Few Android OS Innovations. As much as I’m accustomed to using iOS, I’ve felt for years that Android has some very compelling user interface features that Apple hasn’t caught up with. Android’s Google Now, Live Wallpaper, Daydream (screensaver) options, and multi-user support are all features that would work well in iOS. I’ve seen the debates between Apple and Android fans, so I know that (some) iOS users will disagree… at least until iOS gets the same or better features. But Android’s implementations currently trump iOS’s Proactive, Dynamic Wallpaper, lack of screensavers, and single-user UI. And Android’s virtual Home and back buttons, another topic of debate for some iOS users, are looking more like the right solution for iOS with every passing iPhone and iOS release.

The Compromises

• It’s Plasticky. Just like the iPhone 5c, the Moto G is a plastic-bodied phone with a glass face and a handful of small metallic accents, so it doesn’t feel “premium.” On the other hand, Moto G’s front is made from resilient Gorilla Glass 3, and the soft touch back feels like it was made to be flexed thousands of times without issues. And unlike the iPhone 5c, which had a $549 retail price (off contract) on day one, Moto G started at under $200. So instead of being “unapologetic” about its use of plastic at a high price, it feels like a solid value at a low price.
• Limited Memory & Performance. Unless you’re willing to shell out those few extra bucks for more microSD memory, the Moto G’s going to get cramped as soon as you start putting videos and games on it. Similarly, if you’re expecting ultra-smooth frame rates from 3D games such as Mortal Kombat X, you’ll find that the latest iPod touch offers noticeably better performance; the Moto G is closer to the fifth-generation iPod touch in frame rates, and maybe not even that fast. The difference isn’t as pronounced with puzzle games or simpler 2D titles such as Pac-Man 256.

• No-Frills Packaging + Device Setup Process. If you’re accustomed to an even slightly fancy unboxing experience, don’t expect anything from Moto G. Motorola’s plain cardboard box with clunky compartments is still less impressive than the generic white boxes Apple uses for refurbs. Similarly, there’s no white glove hand-holding during the Android setup process; even as a lifelong computer user, I felt like Motorola did nothing to make it easy to even turn on and start using the device, and although it was trying to use hints and clues, Android didn’t fare much better.
• 3G GSM and Micro-SIM. In addition to lacking support for LTE — the Moto G supports basic 3G/2G GSM, only — the second-gen Moto G requires a Micro-SIM card — which I haven’t used in an iPhone for 4 years. Cellular carriers still stock and will gladly supply fresh Micro-SIM cards, so this isn’t a huge deal, but Moto G explicitly doesn’t support Nano-SIM-to-Micro-SIM adapters, so you mightn’t be able to swap SIMs between phones.
• Which Android Versions? My Moto G shipped with Android 5.0, and I was able to update it to Android 5.0.2. Motorola apparently plans to offer 5.1.1 and 6.0 updates for this model, but as of this moment, the 5.0.2 phone reports that it’s “up to date.” Which it’s not. That’s apparently just part of the Android experience.
• Confusing UI. If you hope to hand an Android phone off to a kid or not particularly tech-savvy partner who’s already familiar with iOS, expect to hear a lot of early complaints about the non-intuitive UI. “How do I unlock the screen?” “How do I exit this game?” “How do I update apps?” Everything requires a little bit of additional learning, and typically an extra tap, swipe, or two relative to the same thing on iOS.
• Tough Migration. The Migrate app installed on my Moto G initially included an option to migrate some data from an iPhone, but when I updated the app, the iPhone migration option disappeared — and a message appeared noting that Motorola was discontinuing the app. Android fans hate it, but Apple’s a lot better at making it easy to move to iOS.

I’m certainly not a convert, and I’m not planning to stop using my iOS devices any time soon, but I have to concede that $99 Android phones and $49 Fire Tablets have succeeded in getting my attention in a way that their predecessors have not. As an iOS user, I have no need for a similarly-priced device with less impressive features. But at these prices, it’s hard not to just consider grabbing a spare emergency phone to keep in the car, or an extra tablet just for book reading or video viewing in a guest bedroom.

Officially, Apple’s not worried about Android pricing — cheap phones and tablets are easy for executives to dismiss as drawer-warmers, and analysts to write off as comparatively unprofitable. But once Apple users get a chance to try these devices for themselves, they may wonder what their extra dollars are actually paying for. And if cheap Android devices deliver “good enough” performance for most tasks, who knows what they’ll buy next?

More From This Author

Check out more of my reviews, How-To guides and editorials for 9to5Mac here! I’ve published a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users, as well as a great holiday gift guide for iPhone users, a detailed holiday gift guide for Mac users, and a separate holiday gift guide for Apple photographers.

Filed under: iOS Devices

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Keep up with the best gear and deals on the web by signing up for the 9to5Toys Newsletter. Also, be sure to check us out on: Twitter, RSS Feed, Facebook, Google+ and Safari push notifications.

TODAY’S CAN’T MISS DEALS:

Apple iPad mini 2 Wi-Fi 32GB $269 (Reg. $319), iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi 128GB $600 (Reg. $699)

Anker USB Power: 20,000mAh Dual-USB Battery $28 (Reg. $40), MFi Lightning Cables from $7, more

Daily Deals: Aukey Windshield Dashboard Car Mount Holder $4, more

$100 iTunes Physical Gift Card for $80 w/ free shipping (20% off)

Apple Watch comes w/ a free $100 gift card right now (effective savings up to 29%)

Justin’s Holiday Gift Guide: speakers, Lightning mics, storage, pocket synths & more to up your home recording set-up

Giveaway: SanDisk USB flash drives for iPhone, iPad, and Android mobile devices

MORE NEW GEAR FROM TODAY:

Bluetooth Speakers: URGE SOUNDBRICK PLUS $17 (Reg. $30), Amazon Large $60 (Reg. $80), more

• Games/Apps: Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (all platforms) from $30, iOS freebies, more
• Keep your coffee hot w/ top-rated Contigo Travel Mugs: from $12 Prime shipped
• Convert RAW & edit photos at speed w/ AfterShot 2 Standard: $10 (Reg. $40)

MORE DEALS STILL ALIVE:

Apple’s latest freebie is Afterlight image editing app for iPhone and iPad ($1 value)

This RAVPower Travel Router provides Wi-Fi, a battery pack, and more for $30 (Reg. $50)

• Griffin offers 25% off Apple Watch accessories: WatchStand $23.50 (Reg. $30), more
• GoPro HERO bundles starting at $140, cases from $10, headgear from $7, more
• Fashion: Save 25% off at Amazon – Steve Madden Combat Boot $83 (Reg. $110), more
• Toys: Target BOGO 50% off – two Nerf Blasters $60 (~$85 value), more
• Aukey Accessories with Prime shipping: Car FM Transmitter $7, more
• Media: James Bond Steelbook Blu-rays $10 (Reg. $15), Anime deals, more
• PlayStation Now drops to $100/yr (55% off)
• Get 20% off Pad & Quill’s high-quality iPhone cases, deals from $20 shipped
• Grab Nomad’s gorgeous aluminum Apple Watch Stand: $41 shipped (Reg. $60)
• iPhone 6 (refurb) and one year of unlimited talk/text: $550 shipped
• Bluetooth Headphones: Jabra MOVE On-ears $60 (Reg. $90), more
• Amazon is giving away a year of unlimited cloud storage
• Home Recording: Mackie LE CR3 speakers $80 (Reg. $100), more
• Fashion 50% off sales: The North Face, PUMA, Patagonia, more
• Free PS Plus Games for December: Far Cry 3, Gaunlet Slayer Edition, more
• Free Xbox Live Gold Games for December: Thief, Sacred 3, more
• Free MP3 Christmas albums from Mariah Carey, Blake Shelton, Josh Groban
• Anker USB Power Deals: 4-port 36W Wall Charger $14 (Reg. $20), more
• Kindle First Books for December: Out of Sorts, A Death in Sweden, more
• OtterBox Commuter Series iPhone 6/6s Case for $19 shipped (Reg. $28+)
• Kindle tablets 25% off for Amazon cardholders: Paperwhite $90, more
• Monoprice MHD Sport 2.0 Action Camera w/ Live View Remote $150 (Reg. $180)
• Herman Miller takes rare 15% off world’s best office chairs + desks

NEW PRODUCTS & MORE:

The latest Omate smartwatch for iOS/Android hits Indiegogo w/ instant success

Minecraft finally makes the jump to Wii U w/ exclusive Nintendo content coming soon

• Amazon launches New Kindle Fire HD 8 ‘Reader’s Edition’
• Razor details its new Hovertrax Smart Scooter ahead of release
• Anova Culinary updates its sous vide Precision Cooker w/ Wi-Fi  for cooking away from home
• Mounts for the new Apple TV (4th gen) keep your HDTV setup looking super clean
• Host a Christmas party that doesn’t suck with these rowdy adult board games
• Sugr Cube enters the fray of Wi-Fi speakers with touch-based control
• MiTagg slims down its NuDock Mini for iPhone & Apple Watch plus adds USB-C
• Review: Star Wars Battlefront limited edition PS4 is out of this galaxy [Video]
• Mohu launches a “high-end” speaker with built-in Android display, save 10%
• Leica introduces a new low-cost M series camera, but don’t expect bargain pricing

Filed under: Tips and Tricks Tagged: 9to5Toys, Amazon, Anker PowerCore, Anker PowerLine, app deals, Aukey Dashboard Mount, Best Buy, Daily Deals, free apps, Gold Box, ipad mini 2, video games

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A bumpy battery case isn’t the only new product from Apple this month. The Lightning to SD Card Reader has been replaced with a newer version with the same name, appearance, and price but one important difference. It now takes advantage of faster USB 3 transfer speeds as supported by new iPad Pros.

The Lightning to SD Card Reader allows iPad users to import photos and videos from SD cards used in digital cameras for viewing and editing on the tablet. For many people, the adapter is critical for using an iPad to replace a PC ad iPads can’t read SD cards otherwise.

Apple notes that the updated adapter only benefits from faster speeds on the new iPad Pro as all previous iPads don’t feature the same upgraded Lightning port. Curiously, the Lightning to USB Camera Adapter, which lets you connect cameras and other devices including the iPhone primarily for video and photo transfer, does not appear to have an updated version to support USB 3 transfer speeds.

Using the new Lightning to SD Card Reader adapter with iPad Pro should result in faster transfer speeds between SD cards and the high end iPads, which will be most noticeable when transferring larger files like high-resolution images and 4K videos.

The old and new adapters are hardly distinguishable from one another aside from part number, so be careful when buying if you have an iPad Pro or expect to use the adapter with a future iPad model. MJYT2AM/A supports USB 3 on iPad Pro, MD822ZM/A is limited to USB 2 speeds on all iPads.

Via iDownloadBlog

Filed under: iOS Devices

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It’s only a fortnight since Apple opened its 27th retail store in China, but there’s no sign of any let up in pace as the company heads towards its goal of 40 Apple Stores in China by October of next year. It has just added number 28 to its website, noting that the new store in Nanning will open on Saturday.

The store will be located inside the upmarket MixC complex in the Qingxiu District. In addition to a shopping mall with designer brands, the complex also boasts a 5-star hotel, upscale offices and a high-rise luxury residential building.

Nanning, located close to the border with Vietnam, is known as China’s “Green City” due to the tropical plant-life in its many parks. The city is home to around 6.6 million people.

Filed under: AAPL Company Tagged: Apple Retail Store, Apple retail stores, Apple Store, china

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Like many this morning, my first reaction to Apple’s Smart Battery Case was … what the heck? Albeit not expressed in those exact words. Seth tweeted that it seemed to be evidence that Jony Ive has left the building.

My colleague Jeremy has addressed the battery case specifically, but I think there’s a broader issue here. Apple claims to sweat the details when it comes to the design of its devices, and – a few grumbles aside – I think that’s a legitimate claim on the aesthetic front. It does go to obsessive lengths when it comes to making its devices as visually pleasing as possible. One part of that obsession is making iPhones as thin as it can.

But, to my mind, the company has an almost schizophrenic attitude here. It goes to all that trouble to make the phones as slim and sleek as humanly possible, yet it knows full well that the first thing the vast majority of owners do when they take delivery is to slip the phone into a case. Those cases substantially increase the thickness, and hide the design.

Which brings us to problem two … 

Hiding the phone away inside a case would matter less if Apple offered gorgeous iPhone cases that look every bit as great as the iPhone. But it doesn’t – not remotely. The battery case may be a particularly ugly example, but none of Apple’s cases come anywhere close to matching the design aesthetic of the phone itself.

The best I can honestly say about Apple’s Silicone Case is that it’s reasonably inoffensive. But seriously, imagine that the Silicone Case was part of the shell of the phone instead of an ‘optional’ extra that is – for most people – anything but optional. Would we praise the design of an iPhone that looks like this?

A rubberized plastic phone. A phone with a crude-looking cutout for the camera, with a non-color-matched aperture. A phone whose shell just kind of … stops at the bottom, where a separate, interior shell becomes visible. A phone that has two rubber buttons and another cut-out in the shell to expose a non-matching switch.

An iPhone designed to look like this would be laughable. And yet Apple seems to think it’s perfectly fine that, for huge numbers of its customers, that’s exactly what the iPhone does look like, almost all of the time. Because a huge proportion of iPhone owners put it inside such a case on day one and only remove it when they sell it – labelled ‘mint’ because the actual phone has never seen the light of day.

Apple’s Leather Case is, to me, a more pleasing material, but it still has all the issues I list above.

Apple does feature one case on its website that at least exposes the design of the iPhone: the Power Support Air Jacket. But we have the odd-shaped camera/flash aperture, and what you feel in your hand is not a sleek, 7.3mm thin piece of high-grade aluminum, but an 8.3mm thick piece of plastic.

Now, iPhone cases are a matter of taste, I know. Some of you may really like the Silicone Case. But I suspect even you’d have to agree that it hardly looks factory-fitted, and I would be surprised if any of you would venture as far as to describe it as beautiful.

I’m also not saying there are no beautiful cases offered on Apple’s website, incidentally.

Just that none of them are designed by Apple.

Apple boasts that it is all about an integrated experience, that iDevices work so well because they seamlessly blend hardware and software. So why are there no Jony Ive-designed cases that seamlessly blend with the phone? Where both phone shell and case are designed together such that the end result looks like a single, beautiful object – not like a carefully-crafted device with some plastic or leather thrown around it like an afterthought?

Which brings us to the issue of why we need a case at all? Why some feel the need to enclose their iPhone inside military-spec protection?

iPhones have got tougher over the years. The nonsense of Bendgate aside (wow, a metal object will bend if you abuse it to a ridiculous degree), the aluminum is tougher. The glass is stronger. Some of the drop test results are impressive.

Yet whether it’s a question of materials or education, the vast majority of iPhone owners consider it sufficiently fragile that they see a case as a necessary purchase.

I fully accept, of course, that Apple cannot make an iPhone indestructible – at least, not without also making it as ugly as hell. But with all its materials expertise, I can’t help thinking that reaching a compromise point where it would survive most everyday slips and knocks without sustaining visible damage ought to be an achievable goal. To create something sufficiently robust that the majority of owners would be happy to use it without a case.

But, some will object, if you make an iPhone stronger, you also make it thicker and heavier. Some will say that even slight compromise is too much. This is a recurring topic in the forums here where battery-life is concerned, some wanting Apple to make the iPhone slightly thicker to boost the battery capacity, others arguing that it meets their needs, and anyone who wants longer life can buy a battery case. Now even an official Apple one.

So here’s a further thought. Apple will never in a million years permit the kind of customization offered by something like Motorola with its Moto Maker program, letting buyers choose between ten different soft-grip plastic backs, four woods and four leathers – to say nothing of different fronts and accent colors. But what if it offered a choice of two shells?

One shell as slim and lightweight as humanly possible. The other just as beautifully designed, but offering greater resistance to everyday knocks. Again, I stress I’m not talking about turning it into a tank, merely reaching the level where most people would feel comfortable using it without a case.

Cases would still be available for those who really want them, but we’d have a reversal of the present situation: one where a minority opt for a case, but the majority feel comfortable enjoying the naked phone in all its Ive-designed glory.

Filed under: AAPL Company, iOS Devices, Opinion Tagged: AAPL, Apple Smart Battery Case, design, iPhone, iPhone cases, Jony Ive, smart battery case

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Arriving with little fanfare — much like several of Apple’s recent Apple Watch, iPhone, and iPad accessories — the new iPhone 6s Smart Battery Case appears to have been designed by Apple to make two statements:

1. The “smart” way to add a battery to a super-svelte iPhone is to graft it onto the back of a case like a hump, clearly identifying its battery-ness.
2. If you’re buying a non-Plus version of the iPhone, you’ll probably want to add an extra battery, and rather than building it into the phone itself or letting third-parties rake in the dough, Apple would like to capture the extra $99 for itself.

Having reviewed lots of iPhone battery cases, and assembled a popular guide to the best iPhone 6 / 6s Plus battery cases, I’m feeling very conflicted about the Smart Battery Case — it doesn’t seem “smart” at all. In polls and in comments, readers have clearly expressed that an Apple-developed solution to the iPhone’s less-than-full-day battery life is long overdue. But the vast majority of people have said they want Apple to improve the battery inside the iPhone, even compromising thinness, rather than requiring an external battery solution.

Since it’s rare for Apple to make a one-off accessory for a single iPhone, the Smart Battery Case strongly suggests that next year’s basic iPhone, too, will struggle to make it through a full day without assistance. And that’s not good news for iPhone users…

Although I’ll have more to say on this point in our review of the iPhone 6s Smart Battery Case, our editors’ initial reaction to Apple’s latest industrial design isn’t positive. Unlike almost every battery case we’ve seen for the last 7 years, Apple made no attempt to organically blend its battery pack into the iPhone’s back, instead leaving a highly visible rectangular hump centered below the camera and above the ports. It’s as if Apple’s designers took the prior iPhone 6 Silicone Case, tucked a battery inside, and called it a day.

While this isn’t entirely surprising in light of the iPad Pro’s similarly bulging Smart Keyboard design — the keyboard just sticks out of the iPad’s front, as if Apple’s design team concluded that “there’s no point in organically hiding this thing” — a hump on the iPhone’s back is nearly as contrary to Apple’s past design ethos as anything we’ve seen. With the exception of the gently curved iPhone 3G and 3GS, every iPhone has had a flat back, and none has had staggered ridges. Hump-style batteries such as PowerSkin’s PoP’n 3 tend to have issues going in and out of pockets, and don’t feel as comfortable in the hand as smooth cases developed by companies such as Mophie. For a company as ergonomically obsessed as Apple, adding awkward humps is a bizarre design direction to be taking, to say the least.

Even less appealing is the Smart Battery Case’s capacity. According to advance reviews, Apple is using only an 1,877mAh battery, which has only 68% as much capacity as Mophie’s same-priced (2,700mAh) Juice Pack Air, making Apple’s solution one of the lowest-powered battery cases on the market. Peruse my list of the best iPhone 6 / 6s battery cases and you’ll find excellent Anker battery cases with 2,850mAh going for only $40.

From my perspective, the really sad part about the iPhone 6s Smart Battery Case is what it implies about Apple’s iPhone design priorities going forward. We’ve seen such strong comments and poll results from readers over the past year making crystal clear that Apple’s relentless iPhone thinning is becoming counter-productive, as a majority of people have indicated that they would gladly trade additional iPhone thickness for superior battery life. But Apple’s release of this accessory — almost certainly the first in what will be a series of such cases for subsequent iPhones, like its other cases — strongly suggests that the company would sooner sell you an overly-thin iPhone and then a $99 battery case to fix the phone’s deficiency. It adds credence to reports that the next iPhone will, in fact, be at least a millimeter thinner than the last one… not that anyone outside of Apple is asking for that.

While I’ll go into my iPhone 6s Smart Battery Case review with reasonable objectivity, it’s hard to root for Apple’s approach here. My quick take is that this is a cash grab — and not a particularly well-executed one — for a company that really should be prioritizing its users’ well-expressed requests for markedly better iPhone internal battery life. Apple users are clearly willing to pay a premium for excellent devices, and for best-of-breed accessories such as the Apple Pencil, but they shouldn’t also be asked to also pay steep prices for second-rate designs with third-rate performance.

More From This Author

Check out more of my editorials, How-To guides, and reviews for 9to5Mac here! I’ve covered a lot of different topics of interest to Mac, iPad, iPhone, iPod, Apple TV, and Apple Watch users. I’ve recently discussed how to safely prepare and wipe your iPhone for resale or trade-in, and how to get the best iPhone trade-in price to help buy an iPhone 6s, amongst many other topics.

Filed under: iOS Devices, Opinion Tagged: Apple, battery cases, cases, iPhone, iPhone 6s, smart battery case

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