Xiaomi Ultrathin Magnetic Power Bank 5000 – Super thin spare battery with magnetic charging

At the Mobile World Congress earlier this spring, in addition to the Xiaomi 17 series, Xiaomi also showed off a series of accessories, and what attracted the most attention during the entire event was, somewhat unexpectedly, a spare battery. It is of the type that you snap on the back of the mobile phone and charge wirelessly given that the mobile phone has a magnetic attachment. For example, if it’s an iPhone with Magsafe, a Pixel mobile with Pixelsnap, or if you bought a case with a magnetic attachment for your mobile.

What was impressive about the power bank was that they managed to make a spare battery with a capacity of 5000 mAh with a thickness of only 6 mm and with a weight of 98 grams. This has been achieved by using the new technology with silicon inclusion in the battery to get more capacity in less volume.

What is a bit odd about the battery is that Xiaomi themselves do not use magnetic charging in their mobiles. With Qi 2.0 there is an open standard that both Apple and Google follow in their mobile phones, but Xiaomi has so far not chosen to stick with it.

That it is iPhone users who are the intended target group can be seen not least in the three color options, where especially the orange one is clearly made to match the iPhone 17 Pro.

Xiaomi Ultrathin Magnetic Power Bank 5000 15 W is the full name of the spare battery, and it should not be confused with the Xiaomi Super Slim Magnetic Power Bank 5000, which is a cheaper but significantly thicker battery.

Easy addition to the mobile phone

The format really impresses, it goes into any bag compartment or inside pocket, and when you attach it to the mobile it is hardly in the way at all. However, the magnets are not so strong that the battery fits like a cast iron. You can keep your phone in your trouser pocket with the battery on, but it risks slipping off when you move.

A series of small diodes with a button shows how much charge is left in the battery, and otherwise there is only a USB C connector to charge the battery, but which can also be used for wired charging to a mobile instead of wireless charging. You can even charge two gadgets at the same time, one via the wireless charging and one via cord, but that’s not something I recommend.

The battery’s specifications, 5000 mAh capacity, 15 watt wireless charging and 22.5 watt charging with cord give me hopes that the battery will be enough to fully charge the mobile in a relatively short time. False hopes it turns out. I have tried the battery with a number of mobiles, charging them both wired and wirelessly, and it is amazing how slow it can charge, the mobiles even complain that I have a slow charger. How slow varies from mobile to mobile, at best, with the Iphone 17 (which has a smaller battery than the Android mobiles I test), I get about 20 percent charge in half an hour. At worst, as with the Pixel 10 Pro, I get more like a 5 percent charge in that time.

I never get a full charge. Typically, I manage to charge the phone halfway (which takes hours) before the battery dies, and if I recalculate how much the phone says it’s charged in relation to its total capacity, I get between 2000 and 2800 mAh out of the battery, less the slower it charges.

I understand that it is not so easy to calculate battery capacity, and that you should rather expect to get half of what you expect from a power bank, Xiaomi is not the first with this, but I have not found a really satisfactory explanation for why the difference between theoretical and actual capacity is so large for this and other spare batteries.

But at least these limitations are less bothersome when the battery is so flexible. If you wear it when you use the mobile phone, its battery will last significantly longer, and that without the phone becoming much bulkier. Use the Xiaomi Ultrathin Magnetic Power Bank 5000 that way, instead of waiting to be able to quickly top up your mobile’s battery when it’s about to run out.