Following months of unexpected silence, Mophie has finally announced its first iPhone 5 battery case, Juice Pack Helium ($80). Initially available in two colors, the new Juice Pack Helium looks extremely similar to the company’s earlier versions for iPhones, emphasizing thinness over raw battery capacity. Still sporting a curved rear surface with button access holes and bottom pass-throughs for speakerphone functionality, the case offers iPhone body coverage everywhere else, apart from the fully open face. Mophie claims that it’s 13% thinner than any of its previous iPhone Juice Packs, while packing a 1500mAh battery pack that adds 80% additional power to the iPhone 5—notably less than most of the rival cases that were announced at CES last month. An included micro-USB cable promises to simultaneously charge the iPhone and Juice Pack Helium together.
A dark gunmetal metallic version promises to ship by February 14, with a silver version coming at the beginning of March.
