Apple's New MagSafe Charger and Cases Begin Arriving to Customers

[Abazigal]

I don't get it. So you get this round bit that you attach to your iPhone, and there is a cable that you plug into a USB-C charger. So can someone explain to me how this is "wireless"? There's a cable from the wall to the USB-C charger, then another cable from the USB-C charger all the way to the phone. Cables all the way.

My wife constantly complains about cables lying around. I can see here buying something like this because it is "wireless", assuming it gets rid of the cables, and returning it straight to the store. Because there are just as many cables as before.

It’s wireless in that you don’t actually have to plug a cable into your phone when you want to charge it.

It’s the same logic as using a usb-c hub to hook up a bunch of cables to a MacBook Pro. Sure, it’s still a rat’s nest of wires, but using the hub allows me to plug in only 1 cable into my laptop, rather than having to contend with 5-6 of them.

The MagSafe charger can best be thought of as a wireless charger that automatically aligns itself. It’s not so much about reducing the number of cables you have, but changing the manner in which you interact with them.

 

[pexel]

The clear iPhone 12 case has a cut out at the bottom of the case.

 

[Taz Mangus]

It’s wireless in that you don’t actually have to plug a cable into your phone when you want to charge it.

It’s the same logic as using a usb-c hub to hook up a bunch of cables to a MacBook Pro. Sure, it’s still a rat’s nest of wires, but using the hub allows me to plug in only 1 cable into my laptop, rather than having to contend with 5-6 of them.

The MagSafe charger can best be thought of as a wireless charger that automatically aligns itself. It’s not so much about reducing the number of cables you have, but changing the manner in which you interact with them.

It would have been nice if the design of MagSafe was such that the magnets were just strong enough for alignment but not so powerful that the magnets require you to pry off the charger from the phone.

 

[Taz Mangus]

The clear iPhone 12 case has a cut out at the bottom of the case. View attachment 968220

What is that small vertical white area below the circle for? I don't see that in the blue case that has MagSafe.

 

[Michael Scrip]

The clear iPhone 12 case has a cut out at the bottom of the case. View attachment 968220

EDIT: I was dumb...

 

[MrGuder]

It’s so funny reading comments here...no one seems to know what MagSafe is all about. 😂 why do I need it 🤣

 

[Taz Mangus]

Thanks for the pic.

The alignment magnet guarantees that the charger will be in the proper orientation.

However... the MagSafe puck has the cable at the bottom... which will put the cable towards the bottom of the phone.

This is great if you want to hold the phone while you charge it with MagSafe.

But it will have the cable pointing the wrong direction on a desk or nightstand.

I don't think it matters which orientation the puck is on the phone. In the video the puck is on the phone and the cable is not pointing down.

 

[Michael Scrip]

I don't think it matters which orientation the puck is on the phone. In the video the puck is on the phone and the cable is not pointing down.

Ohhh right. Brain fart here.

Now I see that the puck is perfectly round... so it shouldn't matter which orientation it is.

Thanks!

 

[Labeno]

Can we get it back on MacBooks again

I've been asking the same thing for years... be prepared for people giving you hate for even asking the logical question.

 

[Traverse]

Is this weighted? It'd be a bad experience if it picked up with your phone.

 

[Michael Scrip]

Can we get it back on MacBooks again

I've been asking the same thing for years... be prepared for people giving you hate for even asking the logical question.

Wouldn't it be great if MagSafe reappeared on the new Apple Silicon Macbooks?

They have to design new cases anyway. Of course they will continue to have Thunderbolt ports... but it would be great if they put a MagSafe port on there too. Maybe it would be smaller so you couldn't use your old MagSafe chargers... but it would still be awesome.

Here's to hoping... 🍸

 

[Greenmeenie]

The only thing that makes me nervous about this charger, is that it uses the same wire that my regular apple usbc- lightning cable uses which tends to get stripped over time. But unlike that one, this one cannot be detached from the charger. So you’d have to buy a whole new unit. And for alot more money than just replacing the wire.

 

[aandre]

Sheer genius. This in hind sight appears obvious, but why havent we seen this beofre on other smartphones? Whomever came up with this at Apple deserves a bonus. A Starbucks gift card or something for adding god-knows-how-much money to the Apple ecosystem.

I don’t understand. How so?

 

[matrix07]

What I want to know is how convenient the actual magsafe charger is. I imagine it stays stuck to the phone as you pick it off the night stand, which sounds clunkier than how i want my wireless charger to work.

But then you can use your phone while charging. Isn’t that nice?

 

[Michael Scrip]

Is this weighted? It'd be a bad experience if it picked up with your phone.

It's apparently designed to stay connected to the phone. You will be able to use the phone and the puck will stay attached. And the wallet will stay attached too. The magnets are also strong enough to keep your phone stuck to a car mount. The magnets are very strong.

But this is the opposite of what the MagSafe brand was all about. MagSafe on old Macbooks was supposed to disconnect easily. That was the whole point! The "Safe" part was that your laptop wouldn't come crashing down to the floor if someone tripped on the cable.

Same MagSafe brand... two very different applications.

 

[44267547]

Please read.

<Snipped>

I did. My reply to that member inferred an issue that is relevant amongst all third party manufacturers that doesn’t offer any protection, aside from a warning label, nor did I mention Apple in my post.

 

[matrix07]

What's the point of magsafe when you could just use non-magsafe chargers, at least you can just lift the phone up and the charger doesn't get stuck to the back with it forcing you to remove it manually.

Fast charging.

Beside, you now can change cases easily.

 

[matrix07]

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.

Plug in and snap. Plugging in is still harder.

 

[44267547]

But then you can use your phone while charging. Isn’t that nice?

I still suspect many consumers won’t use the phone attached, you’re just paying for the convenience for a different application.

 

[CharlesShaw]

MagSafe is Qi compatible. But I’m guessing that third parties will be prohibited from putting those alignment magnets into cases for older models?

 

[matrix07]

but the good thing about wireless charging is just setting your phone down, charging it, then lifting it off when you are done charging.

Aren’t we all complaining at one point that we can’t use the phone while charging?

 

[Taz Mangus]

What's the point of magsafe when you could just use non-magsafe chargers, at least you can just lift the phone up and the charger doesn't get stuck to the back with it forcing you to remove it manually.

The MagSafe is a 15w charger. Apple capped the non-MagSafe charging to 7.5w. MagSafe is Apple’s implementation of fast charging. Also, Apple wanted for users not to worry about cases where the device was not directly in the best spot on the pad to get full maximum benefit of charging.

 

[Taz Mangus]

MagSafe is Qi compatible. But I’m guessing that third parties will be prohibited from putting those alignment magnets into cases for older models?

There is more to how MagSafe works then simply using magnets.

 

[Infinitewisdom]

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.

Yep, I’m with you on this. Makes no sense to me. Really seems like a money grab to me by Apple. The MagSafe charging cable is a no go for me. The MagSafe Duo charger or whatever, which hasn’t even been released yet, makes more sense since the one place where magnets would help is with aligning wireless chargers. But even then I’ve used wireless chargers for years and it’s not like I’ve ever had any major issues.

 

[ian87w]

Do wish the MagSafe charger cable was removable. Would be nice to have flexibility in wire lengths.

That's probably to allow future SKUs with longer cables. So people would have to buy another pad instead of just a longer cable.