The mophie Powerstation Plus Ultra plugs directly into a wall, and built-in cables let it plug straight into your iPhone or Mac. But it’s no simple wall adapter — it’s also a 10,000mAh power bank.
I put the all-in-one device to the test. It’s a bit of a brick, but delivers when it counts.
mophie Powerstation Plus Ultra review
There’s nothing more frustrating than needing to power up your iPhone on a trip and realizing you brought the cable but not a wall charger. Or you have an external battery but a Lightning cable and not a USB-C one.
That won’t happen with mophie Powerstation Plus Ultra. All the components you need to charge your iPhone, iPad or Mac are built in.
Table of contents:
- Everything you need to charge in one package
- A wee bit bulky
- More than a full iPhone charge
- mophie Powerstation Plus Ultra final thoughts
- Pricing
Everything you need to charge in one package
At the heart of the peripheral sits a 10,000mAh internal battery. On either side are an integrated USB-C cable and a Lightning cable. With these, you’re ready to juice up an iPhone, AirPods case, etc. And there’s a USB-C port on the bottom edge for plugging in an Apple Watch charger or maybe a MacBook.
Look on the back for a pair of fold-out prongs for U.S. electrical outlets.
Charging an iPhone or Mac is as simple as plugging the mophie Powerstation Plus Ultra into a wall socket then attaching one of its cables to your computer. That said, the built-in cables are only 3.5 inches long so your device needs to be close.
Of course, the accessory is a 10,000mAh power bank so a wall socket isn’t always necessary. You can juice up your gear anywhere from a campsite to Katmandu.
If you really want to use Powerstation Plus Ultra as a wall charger with your MacBook on a desk, you can plug your own longer cable into the charger’s USB-C port.
A wee bit bulky
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
Combining power prongs, battery and cables makes for a certain amount of bulk. Much of that is the battery — no one has found a way to cram 10,000mAh into a small package.
The result is 4.9 inches by 2.8 inches by 1.2 inches, and a weight of 0.8 pounds. That’s not something you’ll toss into a purse and forget about. Don’t get me wrong, it’s very portable, fitting easily in suitcase or backpack, but it’s bulky enough that you aren‘t likely to carry it everywhere just in case you might need a power up.
More than a full iPhone charge
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
mophie Powerstation Plus Ultra can charge three devices at once. There’s the built-in USB-C and Lightning cables, plus a USB-C port on the bottom edge for when you have a cable available.
Either USB-C option puts out 30W, while the Lightning cable tops out at 20W. In my tests with both USB-C options, the power bank sends a max of 28W to my iPhone 16 Plus. That’s the most the handset can take.
Of course I also tested the 10,000mAh battery inside the Powerstation Plus Ultra. It was able to give my iPhone a 123% charge over multiple cycles. That’s enough to bump the battery from 20% to 80% twice. For me, it means I can leave my house on Friday morning with a fully charged iPhone and won’t need a power socket again until Monday.
After a bit of math, these results show mophie’s power bank is about 60% efficient, which is typical. Expect it to transfer a bit under 6,000mAh of power to your device in real-world use.
When it comes time to replenish the power bank’s own battery, the accessory includes prongs that plug into a wall socket (U.S.). Or connect its USB-C port or cable to a second wall charger. In my tests, an hour of charging took the battery up to nearly full whether I plugged the accessory into a wall socket or a USB-C charger.
The power bank sends current to computers that are connected to it first, before it charges its own internal battery. I tested this with a nearly discharged iPhone and Powerstation Plus Ultra. After an hour of charging, the handset was almost at 100% while the peripheral was still below 25%.
A series of four white LEDs on the bottom edge are the only indication of battery power remaining. While this is somewhat useful, it’s in stark contrast to rivals like the HyperJuice 245W USB-C Battery Pack with screens that show exactly how much power remains, how much is flowing, etc.
mophie Powerstation Plus Ultra final thoughts
Photo: Ed Hardy/Cult of Mac
The best thing about this product is that it’s all in one. Put it in your suitcase and you’re ready to charge your iPhone, iPad or Mac, whether you have access to a U.S. wall socket or not. You can’t accidentally leave part of it behind.
Given its battery capacity, short cables and 30W max, it’s well suited for charging up an iPhone or two, or maybe some accessories, but it’s not the best option for a Mac. It’ll absolutely power up a MacBook, but these can take in power at much faster rather than this charger can provide.
★★★★☆
As a side note, I’m looking forward to some future version that has two USB-C cables and no further need for a Lightning cable.
Pricing
mophie Powerstation Plus Ultra costs $99.95.
Buy it from: mophie
mophie provided Cult of Mac with a review unit for this article. See our reviews policy, and check out more in-depth reviews of Apple-related items.
