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Apple Reintroduces MagSafe Battery, for iPhone Air Only

Good to see it but Apple could have made it compatible with the other new iPhones too. Disappointing
 
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BelgianChoklit said:
Selling a battery back doesn't mean Apple is saying you're going to need this every day.

They can also sell this just saying that IF you need it one time where you expect to use it more than usually, all day long, and won't be able to charge, here's what we offer. That's it.

Apple also sells AirPods for the iPhone, doesn't mean you HAVE to buy them.

I get why this iPhone exists, I find it super appealing, I just dislike the display size.
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I agree, I am just predicting how the internet will respond.
 
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BelgianChoklit said:
Selling a battery back doesn't mean Apple is saying you're going to need this every day.

They can also sell this just saying that IF you need it one time where you expect to use it more than usually, all day long, and won't be able to charge, here's what we offer. That's it.

Apple also sells AirPods for the iPhone, doesn't mean you HAVE to buy them.

I get why this iPhone exists, I find it super appealing, I just dislike the display size.
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Exactly. I WFH and there is a charger at my desk. My phone charge rarely falls below 70%. But if for example I am traveling or out of the house for an entire day, it should be nice to have a little power pack tucked away in another pocket or in my backpack for when the phone reaches low charge. This seems like a win-win to me.

(That said, the cameras on the Air are a non-starter for me so I am not even considering it.)
 
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I already have a Anker Nano 5000 mAh power bank with built-in USB Type C charging connector. I'll use that instead of this bulky-looking MagSafe power back.
 
I fail to understand why they didn't have a universal battery pack that would fit all phones. I get that the new iPhone Air is going to have only one camera, but I don't see why we have to have 3 million cameras on our phones in the first place.

The old lightning magsafe battery pack was at least fairly universal. Are they at least releasing a magsafe battery pack that's for the pro phones?

Would be nice to have one for the pro phones. Magsafe or not. Even if it's just a travel-friendly USB-C battery pack of some kind.
 
smaffei said:
Tell me the iPhone 17 Air needs an extra battery without telling me the iPhone 17 Air needs an extra battery.
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Apple didn't tell you because it isn't needed by default. 27 hours of video playback is more than all day battery. The pack is for people who will be off hiking, unable to get to an outlet, or general emergency use.

Some of the members here need to stop with the empty rhetoric and think about the reply before posting.
 
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Far from optimal, but it should charge a non-Air MagSafe iPhone…as long as you turn it sideways. It would be awkward to use while charging. I tested my old Lightning Apple MagSafe battery pack and it works sideways with my 16 Pro.

Yes, you’d have to be completely desperate for a new Apple MagSafe battery pack to do this, but if you are, I’m guessing it will work (sideways).
 
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That the pack charges only through the phone is a massive step back in usability.

When traveling, the old pack would act as a MagSafe charging dock. Keep the pack plugged in, and place or remove the phone as necessary without fiddling with a cable. It made it very convenient in hotel rooms, and replaced the need for a dock.

Now charging the pack means that the phone is inconveniently tethered and charging the pack which makes it useless as a dock replacement, and removes opportunistic charging of the pack, for example at an airport or a cafe.

It seems really shortsighted.

Luckily, there are other options in the market today.
 
Martin Bland said:
That the pack charges only through the phone is a massive step back in usability.

When traveling, the old pack would act as a MagSafe charging dock. Keep the pack plugged in, and place or remove the phone as necessary without fiddling with a cable. It made it very convenient in hotel rooms, and replaced the need for a dock.

Now charging the pack means that the phone is inconveniently tethered and charging the pack which makes it useless as a dock replacement, and removes opportunistic charging of the pack, for example at an airport.

It seems really shortsighted.

Luckily, there are other options in the market today.
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Exactly my thoughts. It’s like is 2015 again, when they offered the first proprietary device specific alternatives for charging on the go as the old Battery cases. A really weird movement from apple this time. Why not make it universal? What kind of obscure marketing tactics are we dealing with? Sad.
 
Martin Bland said:
That the pack charges only through the phone is a massive step back in usability.

When traveling, the old pack would act as a MagSafe charging dock. Keep the pack plugged in, and place or remove the phone as necessary without fiddling with a cable. It made it very convenient in hotel rooms, and replaced the need for a dock.

Now charging the pack means that the phone is inconveniently tethered and charging the pack which makes it useless as a dock replacement, and removes opportunistic charging of the pack, for example at an airport or a cafe.

It seems really shortsighted.

Luckily, there are other options in the market today.
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I was thinking it had USB-C. If not, what is this bullet point on the highlights referring to?
* Charge smaller accessories via USB-C
 
EricNau said:
Honestly, based on how bad my experience was with Apple’s first attempt at a MagSafe battery, this is going to be a pass for me.

I tried two different Apple MagSafe batteries—both of which struggled to recharge my iPhone mini consistently, so I ended up getting a $20 Anker that works so much better.
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Interesting. I’ve had the OG MagSafe battery pack for years now and it still works perfectly! It’s obviously lost some juice. But it’s been great on a ton of occasions on my iPhone 15 Pro and on iPhones I had before that.
 
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Europa13 said:
I was thinking it had USB-C. If not, what is this bullet point on the highlights referring to?
* Charge smaller accessories via USB-C
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That’s an interesting observation; the gen’16 phones can be used to reverse-charge (say) AirPods, etc. AFAIK this new battery can do that too (ie charge smaller accessories).

Maybe the dirty-little-secret is that ‘Air has had that reverse-charging feature crippled, so it’s been passed back to the battery? And that’s why they’re offering it at all?

Maybe Apple learnt a lesson from the 12/13 Mini battery life debacle that’s finally bearing fruit for them. “Once bitten; twice shy”.
 
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EricNau said:
Honestly, based on how bad my experience was with Apple’s first attempt at a MagSafe battery, this is going to be a pass for me.

I tried two different Apple MagSafe batteries—both of which struggled to recharge my iPhone mini consistently, so I ended up getting a $20 Anker that works so much better.
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I remember people saying the Magsafe battery didn't function the same as a powerbank which recharges the phone battery, but it functioned more as a reserve battery to power the phone's operations (skipping recharging the internal battery unless maybe the phone is not doing anything for a long time). I think this was due to the inefficiency/lost energy of transferring power from one battery to another. I can't confirm this was how the Magsafe battery worked, but if it was, then perhaps that was why it didn't seem to recharge your phone?
 
subjonas said:
I remember people saying the Magsafe battery didn't function the same as a powerbank which recharges the phone battery, but it functioned more as a reserve battery to power the phone's operations (skipping recharging the internal battery unless maybe the phone is not doing anything for a long time). I think this was due to the inefficiency/lost energy of transferring power from one battery to another. I can't confirm this was how the Magsafe battery worked, but if it was, then perhaps that was why it didn't seem to recharge your phone?
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That very well might be, though I’m comparing it to an Anker power bank that’s a similar size and also charged the phone via MagSafe, so it should be pretty apples-to-apples (heh).

There were times using the Apple MagSafe charger that my phone battery continued to drop, even though it was sitting on a table unused. If that was Apple’s intent, then so be it, but that’s not the product I want. 🤷‍♂️
 
EricNau said:
Honestly, based on how bad my experience was with Apple’s first attempt at a MagSafe battery, this is going to be a pass for me.

I tried two different Apple MagSafe batteries—both of which struggled to recharge my iPhone mini consistently, so I ended up getting a $20 Anker that works so much better.
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Curious. I have, and still use almost daily, the original MagSafe battery pack. I also have several Ankers. My experience is the opposite. The Ankers struggle to charge (due to heat, I think) while the MagSafe will charge or, as I believe it was designed to keep the phone at near full charge all day.
 
EricNau said:
That very well might be, though I’m comparing it to an Anker power bank that’s a similar size and also charged the phone via MagSafe, so it should be pretty apples-to-apples (heh).

There were times using the Apple MagSafe charger that my phone battery continued to drop, even though it was sitting on a table unused. If that was Apple’s intent, then so be it, but that’s not the product I want. 🤷‍♂️
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I think I have the same Anker magsafe you have, but I don't believe it functions the same as the Apple one. I think the Anker is more tradtional and recharges the phone battery. Apparently only Apple can make the Magsafe battery that "skips" recharging the phone battery because it requires deeper software integration that third parties don't have access to.

Yes, Apple's approach (if it was their approach) isn't for everyone. I think it can serve a useful function though (maybe the most energy-efficient approach), so I hope Apple makes a new Magsafe battery compatible with all their phones, or releases an API so that third party manufacturers like Anker or Ugreen can make it.
 
Richdmoore said:
I wonder if this battery will work well for the normal iPhone 17? I would think so, but I guess we will see.

Hopefully I won’t really need it, but good to have options.
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julianps said:
Apple Store compatibility for this product says it’s ‘Air only.
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It will only fit on the Air because it’s too tall to fit on the standard models and not hot the camera bump.
 
macduke said:
Most normies don't need to use this except when traveling. The influencers can have their thin phone to show off and when they're traveling they can pop a battery on it. Kinda funny but won't be used very often for most people.
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Not sure influencers will survive with one camera. Also not sure having their battery die, and not be able to post/create content would be a bad thing TBH
 
Yup, reading between the lines - the battery sucks, so we made a jetpack for it that will make the world thinnest phone the world's thickest phone.

I'll stick with the Pro Max, thank you.
 
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