Power banks can do so much more than charge your phone

Batteries are boring. While an essential component in the vast majority of products, lengthening of a tablet, smartphone, or wearable typically isn’t the most exciting announcement when compared to a new design or features that change how you use the device in question. That could be one reason why external batteries remain such a constant: Companies continue to prioritize looks over battery life.

New chargers and external battery packs are a regular presence at trade shows like the Consumer Electronics Show, but the most interesting models at this year’s show all had something in common. Besides charging, they had some additional skill that hopefully earned them a spot in your bag or pocket. As gadgets proliferate and keeping them charged becomes even more important, having a battery that’s worth more than its charging ability seems like it could become the norm.

The Clicks Power Keyboard charges and types

Clicks’ new battery can act as a keyboard for other devices

Clicks, which entered the gadget scene in 2024 with a case that added a physical keyboard to select iOS and Android phones, expanded lineup at CES 2026 with a Blackberry-inspired smartphone and a new take on its external keyboard. The Clicks Communicator is an Android phone with a physical keyboard (and a headphone jack) that’s supposed to launch later in 2026. There are reasons to be skeptical about a startup building its first phone, especially when it’s only made accessories up until this point, but the device is interesting. The Clicks Power Keyboard might end up being more impactful, though.

The Clicks Power Keyboard is a 2,150mAh external battery with a built-in 5W Qi charger and a physical keyboard not unlike the one featured on Clicks’ cases. The idea behind the accessory is that it can charge your phone just by magnetically attaching to the back of it, but when you need a more precise, tactile typing experience, you can just slide up the top-half of the battery and reveal the physical keyboard underneath. Because the battery is only magnetically attached to your phone, you can also rotate your phone into landscape orientation without getting in the way of the keys.

The Power Keyboard connects to smartphones over Bluetooth rather than USB-C, which means it can also be used with a variety of other devices, including streaming boxes like the Apple TV 4K, or VR headsets like the Apple Vision Pro. It’s not the largest or fastest external battery, but its keyboard makes it worth keeping around.

The Xreal Neo makes any gadget a source for your AR glasses

Xreal’s dock and external battery has a built-in stand

Xreal, an augmented reality glasses maker and Google partner on Android XR, took a different approach with its new Xreal Neo. The mobile dock and external battery make it possible to connect the company’s glasses to a variety of different consoles, handheld PCs, phones, and tablets, while keeping them charged at the same time. Traditionally, Xreal’s glasses require adapters to make all of those connections possible, but the Neo includes a built-in cable, stand, and wireless charging pad, so you can convert your connection and even prop up whatever you’re charging while it’s displaying content on your glasses. The Neo itself has a 10,000mAh battery and weighs around 245g, which also makes it just light enough to still lift when you attach it to another gadget.

The Xreal Neo is still more awkward than a direct connection between a smartphone and a pair of AR glasses, but because it’s able to keep that device charged (and even work as an external battery when you’re not using Xreal’s glasses) it more easily justifies its place in your pocket or carry-on. Like the Clicks Power Keyboard, trying to do more than just charging gives it more of a reason to exist. Even something like Belkin’s UltraCharge Pro Power Bank 10K with Magnetic Ring, which combines an external battery, stand, and MagSafe connector so you can keep your device charged without giving up your favorite MagSafe accessories, tries to be more than a source of extra battery life.

External batteries are more necessary than ever

Almost everyone owns a phone and gadgets that can connect to it.

The number of people who own smartphones continues to increase, according to Pew Research, and based on recent data from IDC, the number of wearables and accessories that connect to smartphones is also going up. The more electronics people own, the more useful an external battery will be to help keep them all charged. Working in the opposite direction is the renewed interest in thinner, more compact devices. Foldables and slim smartphones like the iPhone Air or the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge, give up battery space for a sleeker look. They also depend on external batteries to get through the day.

Those two reasons make batteries and other charging devices essential, but also put more pressure on them to earn their spot on the back of your phone or plugged into your tablet. I think the Clicks Power Keyboard and the Xreal Neo are just two examples of how external battery packs could change to better meet this moment. Or at the very least, make lugging around an extra battery feel useful, rather than necessary.