Mophie’s new battery packs charge by Lightning, meaning less cables to pack

Mophie’s latest power packs are the first portable chargers to feature a Lightning connector, meaning you can charge them using exactly the same cable you use to charge your Apple devices. 

With the loss of removable batteries, battery packs have become an essential purchase if you find your phone doesn’t make it through the course of the day on a single charge.

Related: Best Portable Charger 2018

But having to remember to pack a second USB cable to charge it is a pain. It’s been something I’ve personally forgotten on more than one occasion, making my fancy battery pack useless once it runs out of its initial charge.

Mophie is releasing four battery packs in total, but only two of them − the £69.95 6040mAh Powerstation Plus and the £89.95 10,000mAh Powerstation Plus XL − can be charged via Lightning.

Both are equipped with not only an integrated Lightning cable that plugs into your phone, but also a USB type-A port that allows you to charge a second device.

The USB-C question

Of course, in a perfect world everyone would be using the USB type-C connector. Most Android phones that are released now already do so, and even gaming devices like the Nintendo Switch are on board with the idea of a single universal connector.

But because the USB-C form-factor is so universal and can do so many different things, there are now huge discrepancies in the functionality and quality of the different cables available.

One Google engineer even runs a site where they test cables bought off Amazon, and has discovered cables in the past that will happily fry your device’s battery.

Meanwhile Apple rules the Lightning device market with an iron fist, and its certification program does a good job at ensuring decent quality.

It’s not a perfect solution, but at least Mophie’s packs make the task a little easier.

Where do you stand on the Lightning vs USB-C debate? Let us know @TrustedReviews.