Xiaomi UltraThin Magnetic Power Bank 5,000mAh review: slimness comes at a cost

With smartphone prices soaring due to the ongoing memory chip shortage, Xiaomi isn’t pinning all its hopes on its smartphone portfolio this year. The brand has always had ambitions beyond just phones, to the point that it even launched its Mijia brand in India this year to bring new smart home appliances. Power banks are another space Xiaomi is well known for, and this month, the brand announced not one but three new power banks, ranging from 5,000mAh to 20,000mAh. Among them, the Xiaomi UltraThin Magnetic Power Bank 5,000mAh is perhaps the most eye-catching one, and the reason is in the name itself.

This power bank came to me at the right moment. I’ve been using last year’s iPhone 17 as my primary phone, and its battery health has dropped to 95%. While its battery life was nothing to write home about even at launch, it’s only gotten worse over time. I use the iPhone 17 for its compact, handy form factor, and you can read my long-term review here for my detailed thoughts on how its battery has aged. The Xiaomi UltraThin Magnetic Power Bank is almost perfect for iPhones, especially the iPhone 17, since it doesn’t add much to the thickness or weight.

It’s all about that ultra-thin design

The name says it all. The Xiaomi UltraThin Magnetic 5,000mAh Power Bank is designed to be sleek and compact, so it sits comfortably (and discreetly) in your hand. It’s only 6mm thick, making it almost as slim as the iPhone Air, and it ensures the phone and power bank slide into your pocket with ease. It weighs just 98 grams, which Xiaomi says is less than the weight of two eggs (try to imagine holding two eggs in one hand, or better yet, do it and don’t blame me if you drop them!).

The body uses an aluminium alloy shell that feels extremely soft to the touch, plus a fibreglass panel on the wireless charging side. Despite its thinness, it doesn’t feel flimsy in hand. Xiaomi sells it in three colours, Radiant Orange, Glacier Silver, and Graphite Black, and the orange and silver options happen to line up neatly with Apple’s own iPhone colourways if that’s the ecosystem you’re in.

The magnetic attachment itself is strong once it’s properly aligned, holding on even when you pick the phone up one-handed. The one thing worth knowing is that case thickness matters. Xiaomi puts the limit at around 2.5mm before grip strength starts to suffer, so a rugged or heavy-duty magnetic-compatible case on a phone is likely to fight the magnets rather than work with them.

If you remove the Mi branding on the power bank, you might think Apple designed it, given how its curved edges almost perfectly match the corners of the iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. It only proves the power bank was designed with the iPhone in mind, although its charging speed is better optimised for Xiaomi’s own flagship. More on that in the next segment.

Convenience over charging and capacity

Xiaomi’s UltraThin power bank supports up to 15W wireless output, but (and this is an important “but”), you will only get that full 15W speed on Xiaomi’s own Xiaomi 17 series. Every other Qi-compatible phone, iPhones included, tops out at 7.5W wirelessly. Since the power bank isn’t MagSafe Certified, the iPhone will charge slowly wirelessly as Apple caps wireless charging speed for anything that isn’t certified, regardless of how well it attaches magnetically. To get the full 22.5W this power bank can deliver, you’ll need to plug in over USB-C instead.

One thing you need to know is that while the Xiaomi UltraThin is marketed as a 5,000mAh power bank, it delivers a rated capacity of around 3,000mAh. This is typical of all power banks – the actual usable battery (rated) is always lower than the marketing number (typical). This means that a fully charged Xiaomi UltraThin is good enough to juice up the iPhone 17 (with a battery of 3,692mAh) from 20 to 100 percent once, while any phone bigger than that, such as the iPhone 17 Pro Max, iPhone 18 Pro series, Galaxy S26 Ultra, etc will only charge up to 40-50 percent before the power bank is fully depleted.

Another thing to know is that the power bank can get noticeably warm or hot during charging because of its ultra-slim 6mm aluminium alloy profile, which can cause the phone to heat up and occasionally throttle charging speeds to manage the temperature.

Depending on the wall adapter and cable you use, it will take anywhere between 1.5 to a little over 2 hours to fully charge the Xiaomi power bank.

The Xiaomi UltraThin Magnetic 5,000mAh Power Bank is not designed to compete with bulkier, cable-first power banks. It promises convenience over speed and capacity, and it delivers on that front.

Verdict

I mentioned earlier that the Xiaomi UltraThin Magnetic 5,000mAh Power Bank is perfect for iPhones, but there are two sides to this coin. If you’re using a base iPhone like the iPhone 17, the power bank provides almost a full charge before running out of juice, which is enough to last about a day and a half. But if you’re using the iPhone 17 Pro or Pro Max, don’t expect a full top-up, as the power bank has a rated capacity of around 3,000mAh. Moreover, if you’re planning to buy the new iPhone 18 Pro, this power bank makes even more sense, given that the new iPhones are heavier than their predecessors.

The Xiaomi UltraThin Magnetic Power Bank 5000 15W is priced at Rs 5,599 in India, which isn’t cheap for a 5,000mAh power bank. You can find slimmer wired options from Xiaomi itself for less, and a 20,000mAh power bank at a similar price if raw capacity is what you’re after. Neither of those gets you this form factor, though.

The case for buying this one comes down entirely to what you value. If your priority is charging speed or maximum battery backup per rupee, better options exist at this price, including options from Xiaomi itself, such as the 20,000mAh compact power bank at Rs 2,249 or the new Xiaomi Magnetic Power Bank 10000 45W available for Rs 3,999. But if you want something you can leave attached to your phone all day without noticing it’s there, or slip into a pocket for a day out without the bulk of a traditional power bank, the UltraThin Magnetic 5000 makes a genuinely strong case for itself. It’s a power bank built around convenience first, and on that specific promise, it delivers.

Editor’s rating: 8 / 10

Pros:

• Extremely slim at 6mm and light at 98g
• Strong magnetic grip when paired with a compatible or thin case
• Supports simultaneous wired and wireless charging

Cons:

• Full 15W wireless charging is limited to Xiaomi’s own flagship series
• iPhones cap out at 7.5W due to the lack of MagSafe Certification
• Gets warm during charging, which causes the phone to throttle charging speeds