Hands-On With Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack

[AppleM]

The new MagSafe Battery Pack that Apple debuted this week is arriving to customers starting today and it's also now available for in-store pickup in many Apple retail locations around the world. We snagged one this morning and thought we'd take a look at it to let MacRumors readers know if it's worth the $99 asking price.

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As the name suggests, the MagSafe Battery Pack is designed to attach magnetically to the back of an iPhone 12 model. It's sized to take up much of the entire back of the iPhone 12 mini below the camera, and on other models, it's a bit smaller.

If you've only seen the MagSafe Battery Pack through Apple's marketing photos, you might be surprised at the size. It's thicker than you might have thought, coming in at 11mm. For comparison's sake, an iPhone 12 is 7.4mm thick, so it's adding another iPhone in thickness and then some. As for weight, it's about 115 grams, or a quarter of a pound. An iPhone 12 weighs 164 grams, so it's not quite as heavy as an iPhone.

We thought the MagSafe Battery Pack might be made of the same soft silicone material as Apple's previous battery cases when it was first announced, but it's not. It's constructed from a hard, white plastic. That's a plus because it's unlikely to get dirty and attract dust and lint, but it may show scuffs and scratches, and it's a bit slippery.

Right now, the MagSafe Battery Pack only comes in white, and it's not clear if Apple will release other color options in the future. Attached to an iPhone, the MagSafe Battery Pack stays in place thanks to a strong magnet. If you shake your phone, it's unaffected, but it slides right off if you push it to the side, so some caution will be needed sticking it in a pocket.

The MagSafe Battery Pack has a 11.13Wh battery capacity, which for most of the iPhone 12 models, will be a partial charge. The iPhone 12, for comparison, has a 10.78Wh battery, but wireless charging is not particularly efficient and there is power loss to deal with.

Charging performance can be impacted by a number of factors like ambient heat and whether or not the iPhone heats up when charging. Because of heat issues, the MagSafe Battery Pack charges an iPhone at just 5W while on the go.

If you plug in the MagSafe Battery Pack using a Lightning cable and a 20W+ power adapter, it can charge the iPhone at up to 15W while also charging itself, and this is the first Apple accessory to offer reverse wireless charging. You can plug a Lightning cable into an iPhone 12 model and attach the MagSafe Battery Pack and charge the two devices that way, too.

There's no major benefit to doing this, unless you're plugged into a Mac or another device and getting power that way. It's a nice feature to have if you need it. It's worth noting that the MagSafe Battery Pack has to be charged using a Lightning cable (or the iPhone) -- it does not support charging through a MagSafe Charger.

The MagSafe Battery Pack can be used to charge the AirPods and other Qi-based devices like older iPhones, just without the magnetic functionality. It does not charge the Apple Watch because the Apple Watch doesn't support Qi. You can use a case, but it needs to be a MagSafe case, and other accessories like the MagSafe Wallet need to be removed for the Battery Pack.

iOS 14.7 added support for the MagSafe Battery Pack, and the update is required to use it. If you have iOS 15 installed, the MagSafe Battery Pack is not yet supported and it does not work properly. The MagSafe charging animation pops up when attaching the MagSafe Battery Pack, and you can see charge level using the Batteries widget.

Do I have to use a Apple 20W USB-C Power Adapter? Or I can use 10w?​

All in all, this isn't a bad accessory if you have an iPhone 12 and want a no-hassle charging option, and it's especially useful for the iPhone 12 mini, which has the shortest battery life of all the iPhones. That said, $99 is expensive, and you can get a much bigger battery pack for that price if you don't mind losing the wireless charging and the MagSafe functionality.

Do you have the MagSafe Battery Pack? Let us know what you think of it in the comments.

Article Link: Hands-On With Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack

 

[AppleM]

Do I have to use aApple 20W USB-C Power Adapter? Or I can use the 10W? Thank you​

 

[Shirasaki]

Here’s a question for those who have it; if you plug in the lightning cable (with 20W charger) to the battery pack while it’s attached to the phone, will it charge both the phone and battery? If it does, that would be cool because then you could use wired headphones and still have a spare port.

Assuming it is possible, it’d be a weird way to gain back the ability to listen to music while charging, plus it isn’t cheap.

 

[AppleM]

Just bought the battery pack to use with my mini. Used it for 5 minutes and it’s getting returned tomorrow. Absolutely terrible.

I think I will do the same

 

[Shirasaki]

Yes.. But you wouldn't expect to put both your iPhone with standard wired power bank/battery in your pocket either..

Sorry but I do this many times on the go. Port temp does go up, but not by that much.

 

[W£S]

IMHO, it’s the worst product ever released by Apple.

Ugly, slow, insufficient capacity, expensive, etc.

Don’t really see the point of this useless product. Personally think that wireless charging on the go is a bad idea.
a. The heat that is trapped in your bag will probably be harmful to your phone’s internal battery.
b. Not to mention the wastage of electricity due to wireless charging. So much for being environment friendly.

 

[tehStickMan]

On an iPhone 12 mini it appears to give you another 79% of charge, obviously lower on other models:

15m: 12%
30m: 24%
45m: 33%
1h: 41%
1h15m: 49%
1h30m: 57%
1h45m: 64%
2h: 71%
2h15m: 77%
2h20m: 79%

Then the MagSafe Battery Pack depletes.

These results are pretty poor.

So you can spend $99 and walk around with a heavy puck for over an hour to get 50% battery, or you can spend <$99 for a 20-30W fast charger and get 50% in 30 minutes.

The real use-case for this is for the puck to be at 100% charge all the time (bad for the battery), and where you need >50% charge and/or don't have 30 min to wait and are prepared to walk around with it. Seems like a pretty minor subset of scenarios.

 

[erniefairchild1]

Just bought the battery pack to use with my mini. Used it for 5 minutes and it’s getting returned tomorrow. Absolutely terrible.

Sure

 

[Abazigal]

IMHO, it’s the worst product ever released by Apple.

Ugly, slow, insufficient capacity, expensive, etc.

Don’t really see the point of this useless product. Personally think that wireless charging on the go is a bad idea.
a. The heat that is trapped in your bag will probably be harmful to your phone’s internal battery.
b. Not to mention the wastage of electricity due to wireless charging. So much for being environment friendly.

I guess the allure here is being able to charge your phone without the need for a cable. But as with other iphone battery cases, you are basically getting a power bank that can only be used with the iPhone 12 (and well, AirPods, but they have never died on me outdoors).

This battery pack apparently also doubles as a magsafe charger when plugged in, so that’s a consideration when I finally upgrade my iPhone 8+ later this year. Instead of getting a magsafe charger, I could get one of these battery packs. Use it for charging my phone at night, then bring it around with me during the day as a secondary source of power.

I suppose another benefit is that unlike conventional battery cases, this product will also be compatible with future iterations of iPhones that also support magsafe, meaning that when you upgrade your phone, you don’t have to toss your battery pack out the window as well. This was an issue with previous generations, when the iphone battery case for the iPhone 6s wouldn’t fit the 7, and so on.

So Apple has basically future-proofed the product for the next 2-3 years at least. But I agree that most people are probably just better off with any power bank they can get off the shelf.

 

[dk001]

For my use I have a couple of slim line 20W 10000 battery packs for emergency use and a 60000 22.5W for home emergency (earthquakes or wildfires).

With the normal use I get from my 12 ProMax and a slimline for the off chance why would I want this from Apple? It is a step down. Big step.

 

[Chocomonsters]

These results are pretty poor.

So you can spend $99 and walk around with a heavy puck for over an hour to get 50% battery, or you can spend <$99 for a 20-30W fast charger and get 50% in 30 minutes.

The real use-case for this is for the puck to be at 100% charge all the time (bad for the battery), and where you need >50% charge and/or don't have 30 min to wait and are prepared to walk around with it. Seems like a pretty minor subset of scenarios.

I think you are missing the point. Wireless charging is always inefficient. My Anker Magnetic 5k (5000mAh) cannot even fully charge my iPhone 12 Pro (2815 mAh). But wireless powerbank/battery in small compact packaging without a need for wire is for convenience. A larger heavy size powerbank/battery is useless if you don’t get to carry around easily. Anker is only 130 gm and Apple is only 115 gm-ish. I also have Anker Powercore 20000 PD which is one of the lightest/smallest for 20000 mAh package, but it is too big to carry around on me. It only resides in my backpack or at home to top off my iPad Pro. Whereas Anker Magnetic 5K is often in my pocket when I go out. It is there for that last mileage to stretch my iPhone’s battery.

So think of Apple MagSafe battery / Anker Magnetic 5k as truly portable unit you will always get to carry around easily. Not as cost efficient powerhouse battery packs that will recharge multiple devices.

 

[Roganjosh01]

Just got mine and think it’s pretty cool. In combination with a lightning cable it gives you a MagSafe charger that doubles as a battery if you haven’t got time to wait for the fast charge to happen.

 

[LovePeace]

What is the point of this inefficient way of charging? Perhaps the point is to participate into a negation that iPhones consume too much energy for the little battery they have. What about Apple betting/investing on an iPhone that will satisfy real needs such as one with twice as much battery even if the phone is 1.5 times thicker? At least they could try that target.

 

[SurferPup]

I just ordered one for $125 to arrive Monday. I am considering painting it pacific blue to match my iPhone colour. I would welcome  Watch series 7 being able to Qi charge. I keep an Apple watch charging puck in the car which comes in use occassionally.

 

[WhiteNiteLite]

Well this is the golden number I’ve been waiting for and I’m not sure why it hasn’t been revealed yet, by Apple or by the many people who have received the item already. The most useful information we want to know about this battery pack is..

From a completely drained iPhone, what is the max % this pack will charge an
iPhone 12 Mini: 79% (thank you ivantheipodder)
iPhone 12 Pro: x%
iPhone 12 Max: x%


I disagree, a review of an iPhone-specific battery pack that doesn’t reveal the power contribution the pack actually makes (in Battery %) seems quite incomplete. It’s more of an advertisement than a “review”

I've got an iPhone 12 Pro. For my first test this morning, I was able to get my iPhone from 20% to 83% (a net 63% boost in about 2 hours).

I'm on iOS 14.7, I was on wifi, airplane mode was turned off, low power mode was turned off the entire time, DND was turned off (but almost no notifications came in during that time anyway), and Bluetooth was turned on. The only thing I used the phone for was to periodically check and screenshot the current battery levels.

I'll do some more tests with other configs, like with low power mode turned on the entire time, 5G data, LTE data, etc. But so far this definitely exceeded my expectations of what I thought I would get out of it. Low power mode might help to squeeze a bit more out of it too (I know for sure the phone was definitely doing stuff in the background since the screenshots I took uploaded to iCloud pretty quickly each time). Assuming I can also get at least a 50% boost while on cellular, I'd feel confident having this standing by in my pocket just in case my battery runs low early while on day trips into the city.

Here are my raw data points in case anyone is interested:

Edit: Additional data, graph

 

[yossi]

Can you charge this battery by putting it on a wireless charging pad, or can you only charge it by plugging it in? This video did not address that

 

[Phone Junky]

Can you charge this battery by putting it on a wireless charging pad, or can you only charge it by plugging it in? This video did not address that

Charge through lightning cable or when attached to iPhone and iPhone is plugged into charger.

 

[magicvash]

This Anker battery is about 50% of the cost and something like 300% of the capacity...

Anker Magnetic Battery (PowerCore Magnetic 5K), 5K Magnetic Wireless Portable Charger with USB-C Cable, for iPhone 15/15 Plus/15 Pro/15 Pro Max, iPhone 14/13/12 Series, and more

Model Number: A1619 PowerCore Magnetic 5K The Snap-and-Go Portable Wireless Charger Snap-and-Go Charging The next evolution of wireless charging. PowerCore attaches to the back of your phone magnetically to transmit a coil-to-coil 5W wireless charge. Made for iPhone 12 Designed specifically for u...

www.amazon.com

 

[josielinnea]

Just got mine and think it’s pretty cool. In combination with a lightning cable it gives you a MagSafe charger that doubles as a battery if you haven’t got time to wait for the fast charge to happen.

This is exactly why I ordered mine (arriving tomorrow). It’ll be a regular MagSafe charger at home, which I’ll be using as such plugged in, and when I have to go away I‘ll just detach the cable and leave that there, taking the battery pack with me in case I need it.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Wait. You can’t use your iPhone’s wireless MagSafe battery charger to charge your iPhone‘s wireless MagSafe battery pack? There’s a pimp my ride meme in there somewhere. That is a comical limitation that totally breaks the whole point of having a MagSafe setup for your iPhone. Apple are losing the plot, and I say that as an avid fan.

 

[chrysrobyn]

I don't know why anyone picks this over the anker version which is half the cost with a larger battery.

I don't see an Anker version with magnets. Can you tell me which one supports that so I can keep my iPhone topped up in my pocket?

Personally, I hate plugging my phone into lightning everywhere since I have had some problems with the lightning jack on my iPhone 6s. I think my phone might last longer if I could give it a wireless battery ($100 to make the onboard battery last longer plus less wear and tear on the jack). Battery packs that use the lightning port don't usually work with CarPlay, which is really important to me.

 

[Denzo]

Honestly, given how fast phones charge these days.. I would rarely use this. Particularly given how ugly and heavy it is. Not to mention expensive for what is really a small battery.
Did I leave anything out?

 

[PhillyGuy72]

I don't see an Anker version with magnets. Can you tell me which one supports that so I can keep my iPhone topped up in my pocket?

Personally, I hate plugging my phone into lightning everywhere since I have had some problems with the lightning jack on my iPhone 6s. I think my phone might last longer if I could give it a wireless battery ($100 to make the onboard battery last longer plus less wear and tear on the jack). Battery packs that use the lightning port don't usually work with CarPlay, which is really important to me.

ANKER PowerCore III 10,000 mAh Wireless Portable Charger with Qi-Certified 10W Wireless Charging and 18W USB-C Quick Charge for iPhone 14/14 Plus/14 Pro/14 Pro Max, iPad, AirPods, and More

Model Number: A1617 PowerCore III 10K Wireless The Freedom to Charge Anywhere Wireless Charging Anywhere The convenience of wireless charging is no longer confined to your home or office. Qi-certified charging up to 10W lets you fully charge an iPhone 11 in less than 4 hours no matter where ...

www.amazon.com

**There is also a 5000mAh version, slightly smaller but only $5 cheaper.

Anker Magnetic Battery (PowerCore Magnetic 5K), 5K Magnetic Wireless Portable Charger with USB-C Cable, for iPhone 15/15 Plus/15 Pro/15 Pro Max, iPhone 14/13/12 Series, and more

Model Number: A1619 PowerCore Magnetic 5K The Snap-and-Go Portable Wireless Charger Snap-and-Go Charging The next evolution of wireless charging. PowerCore attaches to the back of your phone magnetically to transmit a coil-to-coil 5W wireless charge. Made for iPhone 12 Designed specifically for u...

www.amazon.com

 

[magicvash]

I don't see an Anker version with magnets. Can you tell me which one supports that so I can keep my iPhone topped up in my pocket

here you are friend chrysrobyn. I posted this above but you might have missed it.

Anker Magnetic Battery (PowerCore Magnetic 5K), 5K Magnetic Wireless Portable Charger with USB-C Cable, for iPhone 15/15 Plus/15 Pro/15 Pro Max, iPhone 14/13/12 Series, and more

Model Number: A1619 PowerCore Magnetic 5K The Snap-and-Go Portable Wireless Charger Snap-and-Go Charging The next evolution of wireless charging. PowerCore attaches to the back of your phone magnetically to transmit a coil-to-coil 5W wireless charge. Made for iPhone 12 Designed specifically for u...

www.amazon.com

 

[ray6088]

I've got an iPhone 12 Pro. For my first test this morning, I was able to get my iPhone from 20% to 83% (a net 63% boost in about 2 hours).

I'm on iOS 14.7, I was on wifi, airplane mode was turned off, low power mode was turned off the entire time, DND was turned off (but almost no notifications came in during that time anyway), and Bluetooth was turned on. The only thing I used the phone for was to periodically check and screenshot the current battery levels.

I'll do some more tests with other configs, like with low power mode turned on the entire time, 5G data, LTE data, etc. But so far this definitely exceeded my expectations of what I thought I would get out of it. Low power mode might help to squeeze a bit more out of it too (I know for sure the phone was definitely doing stuff in the background since the screenshots I took uploaded to iCloud pretty quickly each time). Assuming I can also get at least a 50% boost while on cellular, I'd feel confident having this standing by in my pocket just in case my battery runs low early while on day trips into the city.

Here are my raw data points in case anyone is interested:
View attachment 1809131
View attachment 1809139

Edit: Additional data, graph

This is 84% wireless charging efficient.