Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I don't understand, are the magnets inside the phone? or inside the charger, and they just added a metal ring to the case?

Inside. Apple showed the MagSafe component inside the iPhone.

so does this mean I’ll finally be able to mount my iPhone onto gym equipment to not only record my workouts yet also track the movement of my muscles vs proper alignment using my app?!
 
Is this something you are going to be connecting and disconnecting over and over and over.

Well, I travel a lot. So yeah. It has been my experience that those wires fray over time. And again, if it happens on this device, you can’t unplug it from the charging pad. You’d have to buy a whole new unit. I think a better design would have been a wire that plugs into the charging pad. So if it frays, you could remove it and Just buy a new wire. It would be a lot cheaper. And If Apple is so concerned about climate change, it would also be less Costly to the environment.
 
Just picked up the MagSafe charger. Charges my XS just fine.

Does the MacBook (16’’) feed it the full 15w? Or does it need a 20w charger to get to that level? (Realise my XS will only charge to 7.5w - the 12 is arriving on Friday though..)
I imagine 20w will be needed for the full 15w wireless charge
 
  • Like
Reactions: dabotsonline
Well, I travel a lot. So yeah. It has been my experience that those wires fray over time. And again, if it happens on this device, you can’t unplug it from the charging pad. You’d have to buy a whole new unit. I think a better design would have been a wire that plugs into the charging pad. So if it frays, you could remove it and Just buy a new wire. It would be a lot cheaper. And If Apple is so concerned about climate change, it would also be less Costly to the environment.
In your case then, I would agree.
 
I wish I understood the point of the standalone MagSafe charging cable. Lightning is a nice tiny little jack, whereas this thing is a giant puck. I’m genuinely interested in hearing from people who prefer this specific cable option to lightning.

I completely understand the rationale for charging mats / docks where you just drop the phone onto them, and Apple has announced one of those that will also charge the Watch, but that’s not what the $39 MagSafe product is.

Please someone who wants this help me understand why you’re going to buy this and use it instead of the Lightning cable they include in the box.
To some degree the standalone MagSafe cable might be the result of 'why not'. In that the magnets in the phone are useful for a number of scenarios (cases, mounts, etc.) where something solidly holding the phone is a feature. But once the whole thing was implemented, they thought, why not also release a standalone cable, some people might prefer that to plugging a cable into the Lightning port. It is also a solution without any wear and tear for the Lightning port.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dabotsonline
Well, I travel a lot. So yeah. It has been my experience that those wires fray over time. And again, if it happens on this device, you can’t unplug it from the charging pad. You’d have to buy a whole new unit. I think a better design would have been a wire that plugs into the charging pad. So if it frays, you could remove it and Just buy a new wire. It would be a lot cheaper. And If Apple is so concerned about climate change, it would also be less Costly to the environment.
Is this a significant problem for the Watch charging cable?

In regard to the environment, it is also a question of scale. How many cables will end up needing to be replaced compared to how many power bricks will remain basically unused. If 5% of all cables will need replacing but 50% of all supplied chargers end up in drawers, then the latter will have a much larger impact. Moreover, at the moment, the number of MagSafe cables sold will be significantly smaller than the number of phones shipped.
 
Last edited:
Tetherless charging is supposed to be more convenient than plugging a cable in because you can just "drop on" and "lift off" your phone. That convenience is at the compromise of slower charging and not being able to charge and use your phone at the same time.

But hey, what do Apple do, they remove the convenience, and still charge the phone slower than a cable in a port..and you still can't use your phone!.
You do realise that this MagSafe charging method is optional? If nobody sees any benefit in it, nobody will buy this cable. And MagSafe on the Mac wasn't just there because it prevented laptops from being yanked off the table but also because it is a slightly nicer method of connecting a cable than a standard plug.

And that is before you factor in that 'MagSafe' on the phone allows connecting other things (than charging cables) to the phone in an easy and (hopefully) solid way. That is its primary purpose, not that snapping on a charging puck probably overall is a bit nicer than plugging a cable into the Lightning port.
 
  • slightly quicker charging - hardly what I would call fast. Phones today are being shipped with 45 & 65w chargers and Oppo have a 125w one. I wouldn't describe it as wireless or even tetherless?
  • has anyone ever really had a problem with not finding the charging spot?
  • I would rather cases were wrap-around so the protect the screen edge?
  • Why would you want a wallet that sticks to your phone? Credit cards are not needed if you are using any of NFC payments methods that Apple promote constantly? I can see that being a right pain in time pushing and pulling from your pocket.
  • There have been magnetic phone holders for all eternity
  • There may be one day a portless iPhone, but err, this isn't one, so not a benefit, unless you feel the need to practice for a couple of years?
  • Apple doubles the resolution of the camera. Commenters: 'Who cares, there other phones that have 4x the number of pixels.' Apple doesn't have to be best in all aspects, but they also shouldn't be too far behind in too many aspects.
  • The iPhone 12 doesn't really have much of bezel anymore a case can wrap around. That likely is a factor that led to MagSafe.
  • In which world do you live in? There are tons of people that have phone cases with built-in card/ID wallets. Obviously plenty of people do want this.
  • And these magnetic phone holders usually require that you attach a magnetic part to the back of the phone. Now that part is built into the phone.
  • Part of practicing is companies developing and people buying MagSafe charging accessories (be it cables or docks) thus when the day comes and the port goes away, there is already an ecosystem and installed base to tap into.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dabotsonline
Not sure why people are bent out of shape about MagSafe. If you don’t buy it or any MagSafe accessories the addition of MagSafe to the iPhone 12 affects you in no way. You can still use non Apple wireless charging at slower rates
Some of us are bent out of shape because it’s a product with major trade offs that indicates the rumors about dropping the lightning port next year may be correct
 
Exactly. I've been wondering the same thing. Do you need to hold down the cable when you lift up the phone or pull the charger off the phone and set the charger back down? Seems like a hassle. With a Qi charger you just pick up the phone.
That’s why it’s optional, those who think it’s a hassle don’t have to buy this and can keep using Lightning and standard Qi. Plenty of people also didn’t see any benefits in Qi, yet it found its niche. A dock with a free-floating phone will find its own niche. Non-charging uses (wallet, snap-on case, car mount) might even be the main use cases.
 
I just watched the event again and at a little after the 35 minute mark they start talking about the MagSafe in which the presenter says "it senses the magnetic strength and adjusts automatically". This may answer the question about whether you need two hands to lift the phone off the charger? I don't know what he means exactly by adjusts automatically, if I heard right. But this could be a game changer! If it can sense the magnetic strength of the attached device, then it could lighten the load so you can lift the phone off simply by one hand?!?!? this would be amazing!
 
  • Wow
Reactions: SidricTheViking
Even boringer:

Does a third party case that has no magnets inside the case will allow for magsafe charger to work too?
 
Will there be any issue using the MagSafe charger with an older iPhone? Currently have an iPhone XS Max and thinking about buying one of these to use as a wireless charger before eventually upgrading my phone. I currently do not have any wireless charger.
If you plan to continue in THE ECOSYSTEM for considerable period you may need to buy these Wireless Wallet Bo mbs in the future to charge your future iPhones as Apple moving away from supplying free chargers and May even remove the ports sooner or later. Ideally any Qi Fast charger 2 shall be more than enough (I use Samsung and OnePlus wireless fast chargers that came with cable, charger with the Wireless charger for my iPhones) but with Apple’s new twisted approach to milk consumers on accessories you may at some point forced to buy this. This solution obviously will be observed keenly by the consumer world for its edelweiss, ease of use or any potential problems in the coming months. Certainly over engineered and not an elegant solution.
 
If the magnets hold it onto car and bike mounts securely it's quite simply NOT magsafe, the idea of magsafe is if you trip over the wire it detaches very very easily so your hardware doesn't go flying and smash.
Just because a concept has been invented for one purpose doesn’t mean it cannot be used for another. You associate MagSafe with easy detachment, but one can as easily associate it with the concept of magnetic coupling in general (or its combination with power supply). Words change their meanings or get additional ones through usage.
 
what would happen if my third party case doesnt have magnets inside the case.. what do I loose? (I win slimmness and less weight) but what do I loose.
The case may fall of too easily? With the flat edges, there is much less a case can hold on to. Alternatively, those cases might require a tighter fit or impinge a bit on the screen (not visually obscuring it, just making it harder to reach touch targets at the edges).
 
Even boringer:

Does a third party case that has no magnets inside the case will allow for magsafe charger to work too?
Yes! So says the compatibility chart. As long as it's not overly thick or dense.
 
And what transparent material that is magnetic (besides magnets themselves) could the magnets in the phone latch onto?
I repost:

And next year, even clear cases might not need something to cover up the magnet(s).

Developing optically transparent magnets at room temperature is an important challenge. They would bring many innovations to various industries, not only for electronic and magnetic devices but also for optical applications. Here we introduce FeCo-(Al-fluoride) nanogranular films exhibiting ferromagnetic properties with high optical transparency in the visible light region.
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep34227

OK - maybe not actually next year...
 
This seems to directly counteract the environmental benefits of not including chargers with new iPhones. Are these not using more materials than a simple charging cable? And is it really any less convenient to plug in a lighting cord to the bottom of the phone to charge?
There is an implicit rule: If something provides additional functionality, an additional environmental burden can be acceptable.

Moreover, there is the question of volume. All iPhones will ship without a charger (incl. the SE 2, Xr, and 11) but only a fraction of iPhone 12 sales will lead to somebody buying this charging cable.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SuperCachetes
This thread is so toxic. If you like it, get it. If you don't, don't.

Well, The negative rhetoric never is the majority on sites like this, it’s the minority. It’s a lot of what we see every year when Apple Watch launches a new product. Members throw their skepticism on something they don’t have experience with, therefore they push their narrative Of ‘Why no one needs this at this price point’. It’s just a lot of cluttered noise you have to sift through that doesn’t amount to anything.

Personally, I suspect this will be very niche category , but I do think it has its appeal for those who actually understand the product and see how it’s convenient, just in a different application. Accessories are a massive market, and by Apple offering this, it certainly has potential.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.