Mophie's PowerStation Plus bets a $29.95 floor and a fixed cable beat being small

The price ladder is where the argument actually sits. Two of the four models list at the same $39.95: the 10K Standard and the 5K Signature ^[10]. Ten dollars above the entry price buys either twice the capacity or a braided cable and a better finish on an identical footprint ^[14][5]. At the top of the range that finish premium is twenty dollars, since the 10K Signature is $59.95 ^[15]. Read honestly, the ladder prices materials against cells.

The per-charge number is less flattering than the headline. Mophie's 5K does about one iPhone 17 Pro refill and the 10K does two ^[2], which puts the $29.95 unit near $30 a refill and the $39.95 unit near $20, roughly a third less ^[13]. The cheapest thing in the lineup is the worst value in it. That is ordinary for capacity tiers, and it is also why a $29.95 opening price does more work in a listing than in a spreadsheet.

The cable is the actual positioning claim. It runs along the side of the bank and slides out when needed, and it does not retract ^[6]. Nothing pulls the connector back into the housing, so it lives outside the shell for the life of the product, in the pocket where 9to5Mac says these are meant to ride ^[8]. Three of the four models carry exactly one ^[7]. Only the 10K Signature gets two braided cables plus a second USB-C port, which is what takes it to three devices at once ^[7]. Output is 20W through the USB-C port, and that same port is how the bank refills itself ^[1].

The size concession is Mophie's, not a reviewer's gripe. The hands-on states plainly that these are not the smallest banks available, only that they are pocketable rather than chunky, and that the price is what makes them worth buying ^[8][11]. The same article's list of the author's favourite Apple accessories opens with Anker's Ultra-Slim MagSafe Battery Pack ^[12]. Whatever the PowerStation Plus argues, the recommendation printed beside it still runs on thinness and magnets, and nothing in the write-up describes magnetic attachment or wireless output on these ^[3].

The carry-on line needs more than it has. 9to5Mac reports that Mophie engineered the banks to be airline carry-on friendly in light of recent battery bank fires ^[16], and names no certification or watt-hour rating ^[17]. Watt-hours are what airlines enforce against. Until one is published, carry-on friendly is a statement of design intent.

What rivals have to answer is not the 5K at $29.95. It is a 10K at $39.95 with the cable already attached ^[10], which makes a separately purchased cable look like a line item a buyer can delete.