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Any downside to Magsafe charging vs cable?

S

skiltrip

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 6, 2010
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New York
Still being on an iPhone 6s, this Magsafe stuff is unknown to me.
Ordered an iPhone 15, and I just picked up an iOttie Magsafe charger for the car. Seemed like a cool idea.

Is there any downside to using this type of charging rather than just plugging in a USB-C cable?
 
MagSafe doesn't charge as fast as a wired connection, and because of the additional heat, it might degrade the battery a bit faster. I say it might because battery degradation depends on your personal usage and a lot of other factors. But in general, and other than the convenience, wired charging is always better to inductive charging
 
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My new car came with wireless charging ability and I have used it once thus far in the two weeks I have had the car. I plan to use it more than wired, unless I need to use wired for CarPlay (for some reason). I use wireless charging 99% of the time and haven''t experienced any noticeable battery loss. I do make a point to not allow the phone to stay at 100% and I also am mindful not to go to the other extreme with battery depletion. Bottom line is use good common sense practices and you should be fine with wireless charging.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
My new car came with wireless charging ability and I have used it once thus far in the two weeks I have had the car. I plan to use it more than wired, unless I need to use wired for CarPlay (for some reason). I use wireless charging 99% of the time and haven''t experienced any noticeable battery loss. I do make a point to not allow the phone to stay at 100% and I also am mindful not to go to the other extreme with battery depletion. Bottom line is use good common sense practices and you should be fine with wireless charging.
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PS: Also check if you now have wireless carplay, too. Some of the newer cars are coming with that... 👍
 
fwmireault said:
MagSafe doesn't charge as fast as a wired connection, and because of the additional heat, it might degrade the battery a bit faster. I say it might because battery degradation depends on your personal usage and a lot of other factors. But in general, and other than the convenience, wired charging is always better to inductive charging
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Thanks for this. This is the first time I bought a MagSafe charger and I think I’ll go back to cable. The tiny amount of time saved by not having to unplug it doesn’t seem worth it
 
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Do you plan to keep it for as long as the iPhone 6s? If you do, I’d give three recommendations in terms of battery:

-Never update iOS, keep it on iOS 17 forever

-Avoid heat

-Charge with the slowest wired charger you can.

You do those three things, and the iPhone 15 will be usable for as long as you like.
 
FeliApple said:
-Never update iOS, keep it on iOS 17 forever
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I disagree. Not only will he not have the security updates, but apps will eventually not be supported.

His 6s would be on iOS 9 now, if he never updated it. Popular Apps like Spotify require iOS 14 and above. (And the requirement constantly moves up)

But if he did update it, the last one it got was iOS 15.. basically still running pretty much everything for now.
 
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Nozuka said:
I disagree. Not only will he not have the security updates, but apps will eventually not be supported.

His 6s would be on iOS 9 now, if he never updated it. Popular Apps like Spotify require iOS 14 and above. (And the requirement constantly moves up)

But if he did update it, the last one it got was iOS 15.. basically still running pretty much everything for now.
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I do not wish to derail this thread, but suffice to say that the 6s on iOS 15 isn’t a pleasant experience. It... runs. But how? Not great.
 
My 6s running iOS 15 is MOSTLY ok, but yeah, now and then I get a hang for a few seconds. Never a total freeze up. Never spontaneous reboots or anything. I replaced the battery a couple years ago, so battery health is 86%. Don't get me wrong, battery life is dismal on it, but it's functional.

I did get the 15 and I'm definitely going to use it to enjoy it and not with preservation as the first thing on my mind. I can honestly say, the first 6 years with the 6s were fine. Had no complaints and no desire to upgrade. The last two years haven't been so hot, but I was waiting for a phone to impress me. The 15 was the one that did.

Also, but using the iOttie Velox Magsafe car charger and I quite enjoy just plopping it on the magnet when I get in the car. I just turn off the charging if I don't want to charge unnecessarily.
 
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Must be nice upgrade to coming from 6s 👍 as for wireless chargers yeah easy option for cars if you don’t need to have plug in for other benefits like apple CarPlay ect.
 
ade555 said:
Must be nice upgrade to coming from 6s 👍 as for wireless chargers yeah easy option for cars if you don’t need to have plug in for other benefits like apple CarPlay ect.
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I have an older car. No carplay. I use a little Ugreen brand Bluetooth to aux adapter. And definitely a nice upgrade from the 6s.
 
I have a MagSafe stand on my nightstand, and a MagSafe puck in my car. I also have a MagSafe vent mount I use for some rentals (typically vans/trucks that don’t have CarPlay: audio is piped straight into my MFi hearing aids).

About the only time I ever plug in is if I have a rental car with only wired CarPlay… maybe once a year.

Oh, and I have AppleCare+ so I don’t particularly care what it does to my battery 😉
 
You need a 20W charger to do 15W wireless charging... that alone tells you a lot of how inefficient it is. And this lost power turns into heat.

On the bright side, MagSafe is the most efficient wireless charging, because QI charging gets a LOT worse, if you don't place your phone perfectly in the center.
 
Nozuka said:
You need a 20W charger to do 15W wireless charging... that alone tells you a lot of how inefficient it is. And this lost power turns into heat.

On the bright side, MagSafe is the most efficient wireless charging, because QI charging gets a LOT worse, if you don't place your phone perfectly in the center.
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What lost power? They only suggest 20w because apple dont do a 15w power adapter.
 
No. This has been tested. If you use Apples old 18W charger, you only get 13W out of their wireless charger.
 
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