Hands-On With Apple's MagSafe Charger for iPhone 12

[ignatius345]

As far as I can tell, this is not much more wireless than using a regular changing cable. People who prefers this new magsafe, what do you consider the benefit of using this magnet on the back over the lightning port?

Speaking as someone who uses the standard (non-magnetic) Qi chargers, it's a bit simpler in that you just set the phone down one-handed and it starts charging -- versus physically plugging in a cord which requires two hands and a tiny bit more deliberate action.

Honestly, it's not a HUGE convenience, but one of those little things that I find makes the act of charging so simple I'm inclined to set my phone down throughout the day on the charge pad instead of just on a random surface. I could absolutely live without wireless charging, but it's nice to have.

What the magsafe version of this adds is that it eliminates any chance of mis-aligning the phone and charge pad, or of the phone sliding partway off the pad if (say) the table gets bumped or something. Again, it's another incremental little convenience thing, but when you put the whole thing together, with a magsafe charger the idea is you set your phone down casually and it self-aligns and charges quickly, every time without you having to think about it at all.

 

[Caliber26]

Plug it into your 30 existing USB blocks. Lightening cables did not come with a block. or even the old 30 pin.

How would they possibly own all these existing 20W USB-C blocks?

The “30 existing USB blocks” that vast majority of people own won’t work with MagSafe. You fail to remember that USB-A is what Apple has included with devices over the last 10+ years. But now they are literally forcing them to buy a USB-C charger if they want to use this new MagSafe charger.

In fact, MagSafe won’t even work with the 18W USB-C chargers that came with the newer iPad Pros and iPhone 11 Pros! Considering how MagSafe caps at 15W of wireless charging, this makes absolutely no sense, other than prompting customers to spend another $19 on a 20W adapter.

 

[DotCom2]

...so can older iPhone users just get a case with some magnets in it and boom, they got MagWafe charging?

You don't even need the magnets. It will work just like any other Qi wireless charger with any phone that supports wireless charging. That would be any iPhone from the 8 and newer and other brand phones as well. You just won't get the 15Watt charging. You'll just get the 7.5 watt charging.

 

[MauiPa]

Please note: The cable is not "non-removable", it is "pre-attached". Is that a review or an Apple advertisement?

I’m not following, the cord appears to be permanently attached to the charging puck, just like on an Apple Watch. That is by definition “non-removable”. 1). How is that not not? 2) what in your mind constitutes this as an advertisement 3) permanently attached is better diction
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It seems pretty weird to evaluate this product with other Qi devices, and use words like "disappointing". It isn't meant to be used with anything other than iPhone 12.

It clearly says it can be

 

[stlblufan]

Will the new phones still charge on old third-party wireless chargers?

 

[decypher44]

So what I meant about the cable direction is seen below. The verticals line is to line up with the head of the cable where it meets the puck.

But maybe it’s just for the wallet, and I misunderstood. Idk.

 

[MauiPa]

How would they possibly own all these existing 20W USB-C blocks?

The “30 existing USB blocks” that vast majority of people own won’t work with MagSafe. You fail to remember that USB-A is what Apple has included with devices over the last 10+ years. But now they are literally forcing them to buy a USB-C charger if they want to use this new MagSafe charger.

In fact, MagSafe won’t even work with the 18W USB-C chargers that came with the newer iPad Pros and iPhone 11 Pros! Considering how MagSafe caps at 15W of wireless charging, this makes absolutely no sense, other than prompting customers to spend another $19 on a 20W adapter.

Your second point is just wrong, you can use any usb-c charging brick, it will still limit the charge to the Max of the brick or the Max of the charged device. It would not make sense to use a 5W, but a 30W would work fine, but not at 30W

 

[x-evil-x]

I don’t understand these videos without the phone it’s meant for? I understand you guys want to put out content but you can’t wait a few days to actually show what it does with a new iPhone?

 

[MauiPa]

Plain USB, sure.

I only went USB-C last year once I got a newer MBP. I think I only have 8 USB-C throughout the house now.

True. We have usb-A outlets, power strips, macs (PCs - ewww), drawers of old bricks from kindles, iPads, iPhones (some crappy companies use permanently attached micro-usb bricks - useless), but not rolled out with many usb-c yet

 

[The Game 161]

I don’t understand these videos without the phone it’s meant for? I understand you guys want to out our content but you can’t wait a few days to actually show what it does with a new iPhone?

More clicks for another video...

 

[DotCom2]

It seems pretty weird to evaluate this product with other Qi devices, and use words like "disappointing". It isn't meant to be used with anything other than iPhone 12.

This is incorrect.

 

[Caliber26]

Your second point is just wrong, you can use any usb-c charging brick, it will still limit the charge to the Max of the brick or the Max of the charged device. It would not make sense to use a 5W, but a 30W would work fine, but not at 30W

I never said that MagSafe will work exclusively with 20W USB-C adapters. I’m well are that it’ll work with 30W or even 60W adapters.

What I am saying, however, is that the 18W adapter that came with last year’s iPhone (as well as this year’s iPad Pro) is rendered useless in this scenario because MagSafe requires 20W. Apple could have easily made MagSafe compatible with their 18W adapter but chose not to for obvious rea$on$.

 

[SteelMacMac]

Are iPhone 11s and 12s the same size?

Will a 12 case fit an 11?

Why don’t you do a little research yourself??

 

[sideshowuniqueuser]

The vid starts with "The return of MagSafe..." Yeah nah, this is NOT the return of MagSafe. It's the misappropriation of MagSafe. Not knocking it as a product, but don't damn well try and say this is the return of MagSafe.

 

[kognos]

Speaking as someone who uses the standard (non-magnetic) Qi chargers, it's a bit simpler in that you just set the phone down one-handed and it starts charging -- versus physically plugging in a cord which requires two hands and a tiny bit more deliberate action.

Honestly, it's not a HUGE convenience, but one of those little things that I find makes the act of charging so simple I'm inclined to set my phone down throughout the day on the charge pad instead of just on a random surface. I could absolutely live without wireless charging, but it's nice to have.

What the magsafe version of this adds is that it eliminates any chance of mis-aligning the phone and charge pad, or of the phone sliding partway off the pad if (say) the table gets bumped or something. Again, it's another incremental little convenience thing, but when you put the whole thing together, with a magsafe charger the idea is you set your phone down casually and it self-aligns and charges quickly, every time without you having to think about it at all.

Any advantage gained by the auto-alignment of MagSafe is offset by the completely non-manual removal of the phone from MagSafe. Qi is designed to be positional and not locked, where any magsafe device must have counter-force to remove from a magnet. The existing Apple Magsafe puck will always travel with the phone when you pick it up off a nightstand, for example, because it's attached by a magnet. It then requires two hands to remove -- or a yank, etc, which effectively makes it not much better than lightning really. And the puck probably falls on the floor.

So far I've not seen an explicit benefit to MagSafe over Qi, except to be used explicitly where mounting is required, like for example a car mount - but even in that context, I question how powerful the magnet is.

Just putting this in perspective, the Belkin 3-in-1 mount looks great, but will you pull the mount with you when you pull the phone off the puck there? Or do you have to do something special? Do we really have to have MagSafe charging mats/stands that weigh a ton just so they don't get pulled away when we pick up our phones?

 

[DotCom2]

So what I meant about the cable direction is seen below. The verticals line is to line up with the head of the cable where it meets the puck.

But maybe it’s just for the wallet, and I misunderstood. Idk.

I'm pretty sure it's just for the wallet and other possible accessories in the future.
Usually, one would lay the MagSafe with the cord at the back, and lay the iPhone facing forward with the notch side at the top. so the tail magnet would be completely on the bottom and not at the cable side. Not the other way around.

 

[CarlJ]

So then they could make iPhone 11 (and earlier) cases that support this just by adding magnets, it sounds like.

Support easy attachment in the right place? Yeah. Support 15 W charging when the MagSafe chargers detected? Probably not.

 

[SteelMacMac]

Any idea how long the cord is?

Seriously, this is so easy to find out, stop being lazy.

What’s in the Box
MagSafe Charger
1 m USB-C Integrated Cable

 

[DotCom2]

Are iPhone 11s and 12s the same size?

Will a 12 case fit an 11?

No, a 12 case will not fit an 11 iPhone.

 

[Caliber26]

The cable on this charger looks very flimsy, I hope it doesn't tear up easily like Apple lightning cables that shipped with iPhone.

That’s my biggest gripe with this charger. The size and quality of the cable aren’t very enticing.

If they would’ve allowed it to work with any USB-C cable, it would’ve been an instant buy for me. Much rather use my 6-foot braided Anker cable — better quality and not I’m not restricted to 3-feet. Plus not everyone’s nightstand has an electrical socket directly behind it.

Oddly enough, the yet-to-be released MagSafe Duo charger does appear to have a removable cable.

 

[SuperCachetes]

This is really stretching the definition of a "wireless" charger. More like a "connection port free" charger.

I hope someday Apple release a phone with a 120Hz screen, no bezels, 16GB of RAM, an SD card reader, no notch, TouchID on every button, USB-C plug, is labeled as having "inductive charging," and has AirPods and 60w chargers with adapters for every voltage and conceivable receptacle style in countries where the device is sold in the box. And it's free.

On that day, the last 12 of the grumpy MR members will finally be happy.

Also, regarding that video showing the Otterbox case, that's just awful. If I receive Apple's $50 magnetic case tand the magnet is that weak, I'm returning it.

How the case interacts with the charging puck without a phone in it is pretty meaningless. I'm sure it will behave differently when you get your phone.

 

[GizmoDVD]

Well, the issue is that some people have Lightning and USB-C now. And I prolly do have 30 USB power adapters, 10 free ones in a drawer.

And a couple Lightning to USB-C but mostly Lightning to USB.

So I have 2 types (USB & USB-C) of Universal power adapters, 2 types of Lightning, plus a proprietary watch charger.

So you have 2 decades worth of Apple cables, which is pretty cool. Trash the ones you no longer need.

 

[sclawis300]

Your second point is just wrong, you can use any usb-c charging brick, it will still limit the charge to the Max of the brick or the Max of the charged device. It would not make sense to use a 5W, but a 30W would work fine, but not at 30W

I literally have zero bricks that I could plug this into.

 

[GizmoDVD]

How would they possibly own all these existing 20W USB-C blocks?

The “30 existing USB blocks” that vast majority of people own won’t work with MagSafe. You fail to remember that USB-A is what Apple has included with devices over the last 10+ years. But now they are literally forcing them to buy a USB-C charger if they want to use this new MagSafe charger.

In fact, MagSafe won’t even work with the 18W USB-C chargers that came with the newer iPad Pros and iPhone 11 Pros! Considering how MagSafe caps at 15W of wireless charging, this makes absolutely no sense, other than prompting customers to spend another $19 on a 20W adapter.

No one is required to have a brand-new 20w USB-C block. It's new this year, and the old 18 would certainly work as well - or just a $5 generic one from Amazon etc. Or a 5w one - which would just charge much slower.

You do not need to have an Apple branded Wall plug, which I'm sure you know.

 

[GizmoDVD]

I never said that MagSafe will work exclusively with 20W USB-C adapters. I’m well are that it’ll work with 30W or even 60W adapters.

What I am saying, however, is that the 18W adapter that came with last year’s iPhone (as well as this year’s iPad Pro) is rendered useless in this scenario because MagSafe requires 20W. Apple could have easily made MagSafe compatible with their 18W adapter but chose not to for obvious rea$on$.

I believe the bolded is wrong. While it's nice to have 20w, it's not REQUIRED to make the MagSafe work.