Mophie Powerstation Wireless XL Portable battery review: What can’t it do?

Mophie’s Powerstation XXL is our current top pick for the best portable battery pack, and for good reason: It’s well designed, has plenty of ports, and high enough efficiency that it makes for a complete portable-battery package.

After using and testing Mophie’s latest Powerstation Wireless XL for a while now, I have to say, this pack gives its bigger colleague a run for its money. If not for the fact that there’s a dedicated Lightning port, limiting the Wireless XL’s broader appeal, this power bank would likely replace the XXL as our top pick. Let’s dive in.

Note: This review is part of our roundup of portable power banks. Go there for details on competing products and our testing methods.

The $99.95 Powerstation Wireless XL has two ports, a USB-C port and a Lightning port. The USB-C port can provide up to 18W speeds, making it compatible with the iPhone’s max charging speed. The Lightning port serves a single purpose—allowing iPhone users to use the same cable and wall adapter that came with their phone to charge the battery pack. It’s a nice touch, and a welcomed feature for those who don’t want to worry about yet another cable to charge a battery pack.

Mophie

The Wireless XL is mostly made of black plastic, save for the glass-like material on the top, and a rubbery coating on the bottom to keep it from sliding around your desk. On the left side of the pack is a power button, along with four indicator lights, each one representing 25 percent of the battery’s capacity.

The top of the Powerstation Wireless XL is framed by a rubberized ring, which helps keep your phone in place if you’re using the pack’s wireless charging feature. The Qi-compatible pad can output 5W charging speeds, allowing you to wirelessly top off your AirPods, Galaxy Buds, or smartphone. But what really takes the Powerstation Wireless XL to the next level is the fact that you can wirelessly charge the pack itself.

That’s right. You can place the pack on a Qi wireless pad and it will recharge at up to 10W. You can even use the wireless charging feature to charge your phone while you wirelessly charge the pack. Passthrough charging will ensure your phone or other device takes priority before the pack begins charging itself.

As for efficiency, the Powerstation Wireless XL has a total capacity of 10,000mAh, or 38Wh. Running through our standard testing process, the Wireless XL demonstrated an efficiency rating of 90.16 percent, using 34.26 of the total capacity. That’s not the most efficient pack we’ve tested, but it’s near the top, and just behind the Powerstation XXL’s 92.51 efficiency rating.

Testing the Wireless XL was made difficult by the fact that the battery indicator lights don’t light up when the pack is done charging, not unless you physically touch the device. In the end, we can confidently say that using the Lighting port to charge took around 3 hours. You can also use the USB-C port to charge at up to 18W, cutting down the total charging time to approximately 2.5 hours.