SpaceX has unveiled a new version of its smallest satellite internet terminal, and this time the device can keep working long after it has been unplugged from the wall. The Starlink Mini 2, announced on the tenth of November, packs a satellite dish, a Wi-Fi router and a removable battery into a single unit about the size of a laptop. The company says it can stay online for up to four and a half hours on one charge.
The original Starlink Mini, launched in 2024, made satellite internet genuinely portable for the first time, yet it still depended on an outlet, a vehicle socket or a power bank. Campers and field workers had to carry extra gear and plan around charging. The second generation removes that tether: set it down, point it at a clear patch of sky, and it connects within about a minute, according to SpaceX.
Built-In Battery Provides 4.5 Hours of Internet
The battery is the heart of the upgrade. SpaceX has fitted a seventy-one watt-hour pack that clips onto the back of the dish and can be removed without tools. The company rates it for up to four and a half hours of connection on a single charge, and owners who need longer can swap in a fresh battery while the terminal is still running. Each pack carries its own USB-C port and small lights that show how much charge remains, so a spare can be topped up separately.
The device can also run without the battery at all. A sixty-watt USB-C connection powers the terminal directly, and the box includes a matching wall charger and a three-metre cable. That gives owners a choice: use the battery when there is no power nearby, and plug in when there is.
Thinner Design Despite Larger Battery
Adding a battery would normally make a device thicker and heavier, yet SpaceX has done the opposite on thickness. The Mini 2 measures twenty-three point one millimetres deep, down from thirty-eight point five millimetres on the original, even though the battery now sits inside the same enclosure. The face of the dish is slightly larger, and the whole unit, battery and folding stand included, weighs around one point six kilograms.
The terminal keeps the rugged character of its predecessor. It carries an IP67 rating, which means it is protected against dust and can survive being dipped briefly in water, and it comes with a folding kickstand, a standard tripod thread and a physical power button. SpaceX has also upgraded the wireless hardware from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6, and the company says the built-in router now covers up to one thousand eight hundred square feet.
Starlink Mini 2 Specifications
The headline numbers are simple: a portable satellite internet terminal with a built-in Wi-Fi 6 router, a removable seventy-one watt-hour battery rated for up to four and a half hours, sixty-watt USB-C charging, a body about twenty-three millimetres thick, a weight of about one point six kilograms, and an IP67 rating for dust and water resistance.
Starlink Mini 2 Price and Availability
Buying one is not yet as simple as the launch suggests. SpaceX has opened preorders by invitation only to selected customers in the United States, and the invitation price is nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars plus tax. That figure includes the hardware and a full year of Starlink’s Roam Unlimited service, which the company values at two thousand one hundred dollars. Buyers reserve a unit with a refundable deposit of one hundred dollars, and the remaining eight hundred and ninety-nine dollars is charged when the device ships, with the first shipments expected in mid-December.
The company has not announced a separate retail price for the hardware alone, and the invitation terms make clear that the bundle price and the included year of service apply only to those invited. Unconfirmed reports have suggested a much lower hardware price in a beta programme, but SpaceX has said nothing official. Until the company publishes a standard price, the nine hundred and ninety-nine dollar bundle is the only firm number available.
For readers in Pakistan, the wait is likely to be longer still. Starlink has registered a local company and received provisional registration from the Pakistan Space Activities Regulatory Board in March 2025, yet it still has no commercial licence. The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan told a Senate committee on the seventh of November that six satellite internet firms have registered in the country but none can sell a connection yet, because security clearances from the Ministry of Interior are still pending. Reporting from September suggested the earliest realistic launch window would run into 2027 or 2028.
The Mini 2 is, in the end, a sign of where satellite internet is heading. The first portable dishes proved that a connection could travel with its owner; this one proves it can also survive without a plug. The price will keep it out of reach for many buyers at first, and the invitation-only launch means most people will be watching from the sidelines for now. But the direction is clear, and the Mini 2 is the clearest example yet of that change.
