I Looked at a Printer-Size Gadget Gives a Phone Seconds More Battery Life

As I slid the phone into the slot on top of the case, I heard a mechanical buzzing sound coming from inside, almost like a printer. Instead of removing the paper, this desktop device powered my phone’s case with a freshly charged battery — all in seconds.

debutant Swippitt CES 2025 and shipping in June, might be the most unconventional (and expensive) approach to extending your phone’s battery life I’ve ever seen. Phone manufacturers and accessory sellers focus on both productions telephones save more energy, give them bigger batteries, improve charging speed, or sell cases with a built-in battery, but Swippitt does this by continuously charging the batteries and allowing them to be quickly replaced when needed. will work with iPhone 14, 15 and 16 models sold with Android support will come later.

There are a few key caveats. First, you should be content with using a relatively bulky box regularly. More importantly, at $450 for the hub and $120 for the Link box, the Swippitt isn’t cheap. It is more expensive than A PlayStation 5 and almost as expensive as the iPhone 16.

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Inside the Swippitt hub are five batteries that are charged and stored to prevent overheating. When you insert the case-equipped phone into the slot, the machine removes the battery from the case and inserts another one. Battery cases have been around for a long time, but Swippitt’s advantage is that after 2 seconds of inserting the phone into the hub, you immediately have access to more battery life. You don’t have to wait for the battery case or manually charge the case to charge your phone because the hub does it for you.

Padraic Connolly, Swippitt’s founder and CEO, and Nancy Smith, the company’s chief marketing officer, say they envision it as a household appliance for family members to share — which may help justify that hefty price tag. Finally, they see Swippitt as ideal for utility and public places where people often need to charge their phones, such as airports and college dorms.

Connolly says a lot happens inside this unusual box in the seconds it takes to change the battery. Not only does it fit the battery into the case, but it also moves the dead battery to the correct location so that it can be charged while placing the next charged battery in place for the next person who arrives.

The app also allows you to reserve a specific battery within the hub. So if you see a fully charged battery in the app and want to make sure you grab it before someone else at home does, you can reserve it for your individual case. The hub uses RFID, or radio frequency identification, to read the device when inserted so that the device recognizes it as one of Swippitt’s Link states.

The case itself is as bulky and heavy as a typical battery case. It certainly adds some extra power to your phone, which may not appeal to minimalists or those who keep their phones in tight pockets or small purses, but it doesn’t feel unreasonably bulky.

It’s the price that will likely be a bigger hurdle. A hub with two boxes costs about $700, an eye-watering price to settle for what some might consider a small convenience.

This is a new approach to a common problem. Until it’s more convenient, I think most of us will survive between accusations.