Hands-On With Belkin's New iPhone Continuity Camera Mount for Mac Desktops and Displays

[MacRumors]

Belkin last week quietly introduced a new iPhone Mount with MagSafe that's designed for Mac desktops and displays that you use with your Mac, allowing you to take advantage of Continuity Camera on those devices. We picked one up and thought we'd test it out for MacRumors readers who are thinking about ordering one.

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The Belkin iPhone Mount for Mac desktops and displays is pretty similar to the mount for Mac notebooks that came out earlier this year, but there are some design and price differences. First off, it's $40 instead of $30, probably because the mounting portion is a good deal larger to accommodate displays of different sizes.

Design wise, the lip of the mount fits over the edge of a display or an iMac, and then there's an adjustable arm that secures it at the back of the device. An iPhone attaches to the mount using MagSafe, and can be put in portrait or landscape mode. There are also adjustable viewing angles that you can use by tilting the mount hinge, something not available on the MacBook version.

Because of the tilt option and the general height of an iMac or an external display, the desktop mount is much better at Desk View, the feature that lets you show off your desktop while on a video chat. With the MacBook version, Desk View is much more limited, but you can see a lot more of the desk with the desktop mount, which makes it more useful.

Belkin's display and Mac desktop mount is particularly useful for Mac Studio or Mac mini owners who use it with a Studio Display or a third-party display that doesn't have a webcam, because it adds webcam functionality. There's also a 1/4" tripod screw on the mount, so you can use it with a mini tripod too, if desired, adding even more versatility.

The Belkin iPhone Mount with MagSafe for desktops and displays can be purchased from the online Apple Store for $40. It is backordered and will arrive to customers in late January to early February.

Article Link: Hands-On With Belkin's New iPhone Continuity Camera Mount for Mac Desktops and Displays

 

[BeatCrazy]

Good video.

Only thing you could have showed more of - how thick of a monitor it can go on. It wasn't clear from the video just how it attached via gravity(?) to a monitor, not using the threaded screw hole.

 

[Markgnyc2]

Will be useful to me. I purchased last week and will be delivered in January. However, I bought for $29.95 and its now $39.95?

 

[CC77]

I know it’s not designed for this but *could* this be used with a laptop? The laptop version cannot be used with a monitor and since I used both setups with some frequency I’d rather get one mount for both situations rather than have to get two different mounts…

 

[msackey]

How well does this mount work with the Apple Thunderbolt Display? The Thunderbolt Display's back is a bit curved; no really flat edges.

 

[smwl]

Is it compatible with the M1 iMac specifically? The apple.com website only lists compatible iPhones.

 

[Böhme417]

Will be useful to me. I purchased last week and will be delivered in January. However, I bought for $29.95 and its now $39.95?

This! I was going to get it when I first saw it, but it was out of stock. I could swear it was $30 then, and now I see it’s 40. Wtf.

 

[Confused-User]

I've been experimenting with continuity camera and a typical 27" monitor and the results aren't great. Aside from some weird but not showstopping bugs in facetime, it's a good feature, but the problem is that a camera on top of a 27" monitor produces a suboptimal experience because looking at the person on your monitor means you're NOT looking at the camera, and the divergence is enough that it's visible to the person you're talking to. That is, they see you "looking down" instead of at them.

Ideally, you want a camera smack in the middle of the screen, but until under-screen-surface tech advances some more, that's not going to happen. Unless you're willing to have the iphone obscure part of the image, of course.

All that said, if you want to use your big monitor for a call, or you don't have any other option (say, you're using a mini or studio), this is a lot better than previous options.

My choice, which costs nothing, is to rest the phone on top of the *bottom* bezel of my screen. It covers nothing of great importance and doesn't look too far up my nostrils.

 

[ignatius345]

I do wish Belkin had come up with a way to make one mount work for a wider range of screens. I definitely don't want to buy one of these for my MacBook and another for my iMac.

 

[t0rqx]

I do wish Belkin had come up with a way to make one mount work for a wider range of screens. I definitely don't want to buy one of these for my MacBook and another for my iMac.

If only Apple did not save pennies and equipped all their new hardware with decent camera's. We wouldn't need these laughing stock hardware jokes in the first place.

 

[ignatius345]

Ideally, you want a camera smack in the middle of the screen, but until under-screen-surface tech advances some more, that's not going to happen. Unless you're willing to have the iphone obscure part of the image, of course.

My wife bought something off Kickstarter for her remote therapy practice called a CenterCam. It hangs down into the middle of the screen so you can place it close to where the other person's image is, and thus maintain good eye contact. It's a bit clunky and wouldn't be good for most conferencing where you're sharing your screen, etc, but for intensive one-on-one stuff it's good for its purpose.

 

[ignatius345]

If only Apple did not save pennies and equipped all their new hardware with decent camera's. We wouldn't need these laughing stock hardware jokes in the first place.

LOL, ok man, let us all know when you've engineered putting an iPhone's rear camera into the top of a monitor. And somehow I have a feeling you'd be whinging about the price if they did pull that off.

 

[Choco Taco]

If only Apple did not save pennies and equipped all their new hardware with decent camera's. We wouldn't need these laughing stock hardware jokes in the first place.

There will never be a webcam that even remotely compares to the rear cameras on iPhones … and I’ve tried them all including the 4K ones. They are garbage even compared to 5 year old iPhones. And I’m assuming you’ve never tried the webcams on other laptops, because most are ten times worse than the Mac. The awful built-in webcams on Macs are actually some of the better ones on the market. Computer webcams are trash. They’re convenient to have if there’s no other option, but people buy webcams for a reason.

 

[Confused-User]

My wife bought something off Kickstarter for her remote therapy practice called a CenterCam. It hangs down into the middle of the screen so you can place it close to where the other person's image is, and thus maintain good eye contact. It's a bit clunky and wouldn't be good for most conferencing where you're sharing your screen, etc, but for intensive one-on-one stuff it's good for its purpose.

Yes, that's exactly what I was talking about.

 

[Choco Taco]

My wife bought something off Kickstarter for her remote therapy practice called a CenterCam. It hangs down into the middle of the screen so you can place it close to where the other person's image is, and thus maintain good eye contact. It's a bit clunky and wouldn't be good for most conferencing where you're sharing your screen, etc, but for intensive one-on-one stuff it's good for its purpose.

There is also this:

Insta360 Link - PTZ 4K Webcam with 1/2" Sensor, AI Tracking, Gesture Control, HDR, Noise-Canceling Microphones, Specialized Modes, Webcam for Laptop, Live Streaming, Zoom Certified

Insta360 Link - PTZ 4K Webcam with 1/2" Sensor, AI Tracking, Gesture Control, HDR, Noise-Canceling Microphones, Specialized Modes, Webcam for Laptop, Video Camera for Video Calls, Live Streaming.

www.amazon.com

 

[vegetassj4]

Can't beat sticky velcro and the wall behind my monitor.

 

[TracesOfArsenic]

Apple engineering has hit peak Cook when we're strapping our phones to our Apple computers/displays.

 

[TimHalfCooked]

Tim employed Belkin to help him build new and innovative dongles.

 

[doccho]

Does anyone know what brand the tripod is in the hands-on video?

 

[ShivneelSingh]

Does anyone know what brand the tripod is in the hands-on video?

Manfrotto. I have a couple of them and they’re solid.

 

[Confused-User]

There is also this:

Insta360 Link - PTZ 4K Webcam with 1/2" Sensor, AI Tracking, Gesture Control, HDR, Noise-Canceling Microphones, Specialized Modes, Webcam for Laptop, Live Streaming, Zoom Certified

Insta360 Link - PTZ 4K Webcam with 1/2" Sensor, AI Tracking, Gesture Control, HDR, Noise-Canceling Microphones, Specialized Modes, Webcam for Laptop, Video Camera for Video Calls, Live Streaming.

www.amazon.com

Completely irrelevant to my point. The issue is eye contact when using large monitors.

 

[Choco Taco]

Completely irrelevant to my point. The issue is eye contact when using large monitors.

I think I have selective reading and missed that portion of your comment. I see what you mean. Eye contact (or the appearance of it anyway) is very important in a video chat.

 

[darngooddesign]

Apple engineering has hit peak Cook when we're strapping our phones to our Apple computers/displays.

You can't fight physics when it comes to good cameras so it's either this or a MacBook lid as thick as an iPhone + its camera bump. Seems pretty great for desktop Macs and older MacBooks. Desk view is also pretty cool.

 

[svish]

Good video. Seems like a good mount.

 

[tonie walker]

…you have many iPhones lying around so we created a software to help the environment, introducing Continuity! in order to use your iPhone as Mac camera you just need to by a mount - Tim