Apple has their own Smart charging case in an industry run by Mophie and a million third party vendors. There’s that word “Smart” again. What makes this case smart? Well read on and you’ll see exactly why Apple’s “Smart” battery case may be the best battery expansion option out there.
Design: Personally I’m not a huge fan of the battery bulge but I’m not sure I really 
see a way around it. It a adds a nice level of grip by using the silicone but I was really getting use to the Apple Leather Case. This does create a bit more friction coming in and out of my pocket which, I’m not crazy about either and it adds a considerable amount of size and weight to the phone.
I gives you plenty of room for Apple’s wider camera lens and flash preventing most lens flare that some cheaper cases can cause.
The front gives you some vents that really just redirect your speaker and microphone that are located at the base of the phone.
There is only one port at the bottom of the case and this is part of what makes it smart.
The buttons on the outside for volume and Sleep/Wake, are not as prominent as they are in Apple’s leather case but it’s still not too bad.
Functionality: Having a lightning port at the bottom of the case means no more having to carry around an additional cable! Most 3rd party cases require you to carry around a Micro-USB cable to charge the case that charges the phone. They do this because most don’t want to pay the cost to properly implement and lightening connection and Micro-usb is very cheap to manufacture.
The case (when connected) will give you the health of the battery of the case in your notification center. This is great since most of the time your phone is in this case your phone charge is at 100%.
The use the term “Smart” because whenever the phone needs the slightest bit of charge, the case will deposit that charge into the iPhone. This keeps your phone at 100% most of the day as it depletes the battery within the case first. This is also nice because if you decide you want to ditch the case for a while your phone will be at the maximum charge.
I was hoping that Apple would be smart enough to include more batter statistics on the care itself within the battery settings.
In my opinion Apple’s case is the best charging case out there. I wish they made a leather version of this to prevent the friction going in and coming out of my pocket but that would certainly drive the price up and at $99 this case is already a top tier device. Apple advertises that the case will provide you up to 22 additional hours of LTE browsing but I’m finding this to be FAR from true. I pulled it off of the charger this morning at 7am and now at 3:30pm the case is down to 21% remaining after moderate use. (Mostly on Wifi). So if you’re looking for a premium look and feel, plus having the “Smart” functionality we talked about this is by far the best option but if you want to save a few bucks and just get something to use sparingly Amazon will have plenty of options.
Be sure to check out the full day test without being recharged on my blog “iOS Battery Test For a Full Day”