Portable battery packs are nothing new, with many manufacturers selling power banks in a variety of sizes to help you keep your smartphone charged up while you're on the go. However, AT&T is prepping a new power bank that could be pretty nifty for those in the Apple ecosystem.
The AT&T Power Drum has been leaked by the FCC and Wireless Power Consortium. This device has a built-in Apple Watch charger, letting you wrap your watch around the unit while it charges, as well as a Qi wireless charging pad for your smartphone on the top of the device. This means you can charge your Apple Watch and your recent iPhone (or any other Qi-enabled device) simultaneously.
According to the packaging for the device, the AT&T Power Drum offers up to 10W of output for devices that support it (the iPhone tops out at 7.5W) and up to 5W for the Apple Watch. The battery in the Power Drum itself is a 3000mAh pack. You recharge the AT&T Power Drum using microUSB, and there are LED charge indicators to let you know how much juice the battery pack has left.
The packaging for the AT&T Power Drum also mentions that the unit will sell for $99.99. There's no word yet on when it'll actually go on sale, but now that it's passed through the FCC and Wireless Power Consortium, the AT&T Power Drum's release could be near.
As we mentioned before, there's no shortage of battery packs available on the market, and you've been able to use them to charge your iPhone and Apple Watch on the go for years. What makes the AT&T Power Drum interesting is that it's a compact power bank that offers wireless charging for your phone and a built-in Apple Watch charger, meaning you won't need to carry cables around with you when you're using it. Because of that, this could be a nice accessory for those folks that have an iPhone in their pocket and an Apple Watch on their wrist.
