SpaceX's Starlink Mini 2 builds a swappable battery into its laptop-size dish

SpaceX has announced the Starlink Mini 2, a redesigned version of its portable satellite internet terminal that combines the dish, Wi-Fi router and, for the first time, an internal battery in a single laptop-sized unit. According to The Verge, the built-in power source is the headline change, turning what was previously a dish you had to wire to mains power or a power station into a self-contained device you can carry anywhere.

A battery you can swap

SpaceX claims the Mini 2 will run for up to 4.5 hours on a full charge, The Verge reports. When the battery runs low, users can hot-swap in spare batteries — sold separately — to extend operation, or keep the terminal powered continuously by plugging it into a 60W USB-C power source.

The hot-swap design is the notable engineering choice here. Rather than treating the battery as a sealed internal component, SpaceX is letting users carry charged spares and exchange them in the field, which turns runtime from a fixed limit into a function of how many batteries you pack.

Thinner, but slightly heavier

Despite gaining a battery, the Mini 2 is actually slimmer than the device it replaces. The Verge reports that the new terminal measures 23.1mm thick, compared with 38.5mm for the original Mini — a reduction of roughly 40 percent.

The battery does add mass, bringing the weight to around 3.5 pounds. The IP67 rating for dust and water resistance carries over from the previous model, so the terminal remains safe to deploy outdoors in adverse conditions.

Pricing and availability

According to The Verge, some users on X have shared screenshots of invitations to order the device, showing a price of $999. That figure includes a full year of Roam Unlimited service, which SpaceX values at $2,100 — meaning the hardware is effectively bundled with a mobility-focused subscription. The pricing information comes from user-shared screenshots rather than a public pricing page, so details could shift with the wider rollout.

Availability is initially limited. The Starlink website states that preorders are open "by invitation for select US customers," with the device listed as "coming soon" for a broader set of customers and countries. No timeline for the wider release was given.

Why it matters

The integrated, swappable battery addresses the biggest practical constraint on portable satellite internet: power. Until now, using a Starlink terminal off-grid meant carrying a separate power station or generator, adding bulk, cost and planning overhead to every trip. By building the battery into the dish and letting users extend runtime with hot-swappable spares, SpaceX has made the Mini 2 viable for longer stretches genuinely away from infrastructure — camping, field research, disaster response and remote work sites.

The slimmer chassis also signals where the product line is heading. A device the size of a thin laptop that needs nothing but a charged battery and a clear view of the sky is a meaningful step toward satellite broadband behaving like ordinary consumer hardware rather than specialized equipment.

The invitation-only launch suggests supply is constrained for now, but the pricing structure — bundling a year of Roam service into the hardware cost — shows how SpaceX is positioning this as a turnkey mobility product rather than a dish sale. If the wider rollout arrives at a similar price, the Mini 2 could push portable satellite internet further into mainstream outdoor and backup-connectivity use cases.