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Mophie’s battery pack case for the new iPhones lets you use Lightning headphones

Mophie’s battery pack case for the new iPhones lets you use Lightning headphones

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A first for the company

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Mophie

Mophie’s newest iPhone battery case, the Juice Pack Access, represents a first for the company: an exposed Lightning port. Mophie’s cases typically plug into each iPhone’s Lightning port, and that’s how it charges the phone. This new case leaves that port exposed, so users can plug their Lightning headphones in and listen to music, even while using the case. The case will support the iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and XR.

Instead of the Micro USB port that’s included with the Juice Pack Air for the iPhone X, the Access case can charge wirelessly on any Qi-enabled charging pad. It’ll charge the iPhone first and then focus on itself. It also has a USB-C port, so it can be wired and charge, too.

Mophie says the iPhone XS and X case provides up to 25 hours of total talk time, while the XS Max and XR case provides up to 31 hours. They’ll be available in the first quarter of this year for $119.95. There will be multiple color options, including black, gray, gold, and dark red for the iPhone XS Max, XS, and X, and black, blue, and standard red for the XR.

The inability to use Lightning headphones with a Mophie case was one of Juice Pack users’ biggest complaints, and this workaround is interesting. Apple doesn’t allow accessory makers to transfer audio data through their own Lightning port, so Mophie had no choice other than to leave the original one exposed.