MagSafe Charges 2x Slower Than Wired 20W USB-C Charger

[Tres]

and if it is strong you will complain that it is too strong, and you want just to lay the phone and pick up easily, like in Q chargers.

It's meant to be strong enough to attach wallets and ideally to mount the phone in cars, etc.
Multiple reviewers have commented on how weak the magnets are. That suggests an issue.

I'm a huge Apple fan and this looked like a legitimately interesting idea, but the reviews are concerning.

 

[recoil80]

Well no ****. Induction charging is also terrible for the environment comparably. I believe in the best tests they got 30-40% more energy being used.

As far as I remember is more efficient than that and since the coils are now perfectly aligned thanks to the magnets, it should improve.
A cable is obviously better if you care about power consumption and I hope they won't remove it next year, I still want a phone with a port

Magsafe is something that I don't understand at all, if it sticks to the iPhone doesn't that negate the benefits of wireless charging? If it's not place and forget, might as well use the lightning port for faster charging?

Honestly, ever since I got the X about 3 years ago I have had the same 20$ wireless charging stand and it has worked perfectly.

Imagine a battery pack you can stick to the back of your phone instead of putting on a battery case. Would be more convenient, and the battery pack would be compatible with multiple Qi devices, while you have to buy a battery case for each different iPhone size now.
And if you want to use the phone while charging, you can't with Qi unless the base is magnetically attached with MagSafe.

 

[Unggoy Murderer]

Everyone seems forget DFU, when something bad happens and we can fix it instantly by restoring through iTunes/MacOS. Impossible with port-less iPhone.

Hopefully Apple come up with a solution for this, that would be a worry for me too. While I've never had an issue with my iPhone / iPad that's warranted this, there is a first time for everything.

 

[NightFox]

Anyone know if an enhanced MagSafe, possibly a few more turns in the coils, could ramp up charging performance? That is, would it be a reasonable and sensible approach?

And whether such an improvement would speed up charging of iPhones 12 or would only work for next-gen 2021 phones?

The induced current from the MagSafe charger would increase, but it's a diminishing return - doubling the coils would not double the current. However, you'd also need to consider the MagSafe charging in the phone itself which may be limited to 15w either as a physical limitation of the hardware, or by software to protect the battery and prolong its life.

 

[polyphenol]

Hopefully Apple come up with a solution for this, that would be a worry for me too. While I've never had an issue with my iPhone / iPad that's warranted this, there is a first time for everything.

How about a flash memory card (obviously a very small form factor)? Use the same hole in the case as for the SIM card.

Oh! Apple don't seem very keen on that approach...

 

[rjp1]

What Apple should do is to divide the battery in iPhones into two units, with each being able to charge separately. This is what many Android OEMs are doing. That way, you are essentially "double" your current charging speed as you are not charging one huge battery, but charging two smaller batteries at the same time.

Come on Apple, even Xiaomi figured this out.

Meanwhile, Huawei is doing 50W wireless charging...

Maybe Apple can invent that idea for the next iPhone. 😂

 

[UrbanJoe1]

MagSafe still has a wire involved. Hard to believe it’s called wireless but it is. Only Apple could, i mean would, do this. Buy the charger, it’s good for Apple & the stock/options. Buy the charger, it will completely revolutionize your life. Remember this. Only Apple could do this. Nobody else. 😆

 

[deckard666]

"
All these years, all this forcing of “wireless” and “portless” future, and cable is still the king.

Some things “just work”."

They do but some people prefer "convenience" {yeah I know how much harder is it to plug something in} and also some people like the "look" of this better and some people just want the latest stuff....

 

[polyphenol]

The induced current from the MagSafe charger would increase, but it's a diminishing return - doubling the coils would not double the current. However, you'd also need to consider the MagSafe charging in the phone itself which may be limited to 15w either as a physical limitation of the hardware, or by software to protect the battery and prolong its life.

Yes - appreciate the issue of what is in the phone. I was considering the possibility that this iteration was a first step - proof of concept, see how people react, etc. - with the 2021 version having enhanced specification. Obviously, we'd expect them to be compatible, but only managing higher charging rates when a 2021 MagSafe puck is used with a 2021 MagSafe phone.

 

[Dolmio]

Apple should have just put a USB-C port and forgot about this MagSafe nonsense . It would have been much better for the environment especially in Europe where Android is fairly common

 

[ian87w]

Apple should have just put a USB-C port and forgot about this MagSafe nonsense . It would have been much better for the environment especially in Europe where Android is fairly common

Well, the problem is USB-C does not actually give much advantage (for Apple) thank lightning. Plus, Apple will lose one of their revenue source, Mfi licensing. So instead side stepping to another connector, Apple would probably just go al the way to portless. MagSafe is an obvious preparation for that transition, and building the new 3rd party ecosystem around MagSafe.

I have a feeling that next year, with MagSafe 2.0, Apple will add some sort of data connectivity (maybe via pogo pins, or utilizing the combo of wifi/NFC similar to AirDrop).

 

[Remy149]

Well, the problem is USB-C does not actually give much advantage (for Apple) thank lightning. Plus, Apple will lose one of their revenue source, Mfi licensing. So instead side stepping to another connector, Apple would probably just go al the way to portless. MagSafe is an obvious preparation for that transition, and building the new 3rd party ecosystem around MagSafe.

I have a feeling that next year, with MagSafe 2.0, Apple will add some sort of data connectivity (maybe via pogo pins, or utilizing the combo of wifi/NFC similar to AirDrop).

I wouldn’t be surprised if they start using the smart connector already present on my iPads for that

 

[kiranmk2]

From the reports it sounds like magsafe is a bit of a failure. I would have though that either a weak magnet for alignment only would help optimise phone placement but still allow one-handed pickup or a very strong magnet that required two hands to remove from the charger but allowed accessories to be firmly attached. It very much sounds like Apple fell in the middle and got the worst of both worlds.

For me, wireless charging is about convenience, not speed. Wireless charging should be reserved for situations when you will be frequently picking up the phone.

 

[ian87w]

I wouldn’t be surprised if they start using the smart connector already present on my iPads for that

Yeah something like that. That way it will satisfy the needs of some for a more direct wired (stable) data connectivity. And it will be integrated with MagSafe into the 2.0 version, and open up more possibilities for accessories (the licensing money that keep on giving to Apple).

 

[ian87w]

From the reports it sounds like magsafe is a bit of a failure. I would have though that either a weak magnet for alignment only would help optimise phone placement but still allow one-handed pickup or a very strong magnet that required two hands to remove from the charger but allowed accessories to be firmly attached. It very much sounds like Apple fell in the middle and got the worst of both worlds.

For me, wireless charging is about convenience, not speed. Wireless charging should be reserved for situations when you will be frequently picking up the phone.

I don't see it as a failure per se as Apple probably didn't do all that trouble only for charging purposes and some cases. Apple probably intended a much richer accessories ecosystem. What we're seeing is just the 1.0 version of it.

 

[Kylo83]

Android is on 50w wireless apple need to sort it out
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I did say at the start MagSafe was a joke and no one believe me, it’s silly and gives us no purpose they couldn’t even make us have 15w for normal chargers

 

[Populus]

This was expected, but we all know Apple want to get rid of the charging-I/O port, the lightning port, so they needed to come up with an alternative to close that hole as soon as possible.

 

[Piggie]

Well no ****. Induction charging is also terrible for the environment comparably. I believe in the best tests they got 30-40% more energy being used.

Excatly.
It's amazing how few people have come to realise this.

Regardless of whether you like Apple or Prefer Android.
You can't go on about how green you are being and how much smaller the box is for shipping, and no charger to save the planet.
If you then introduce a new charging method for your phone which is vastly less efficient, meaning over a few years there will literally be hundreds of millions of devices all drawing vastly more power from the grid than they would do via a wire.

I reckon it would be shocking if someone were to cost out what that many iphones would be costing the electrical grid extra due to this change.

 

[neuropsychguy]

As others wrote, this should surprise no one. Wireless chargers are about 70% the efficiency of wired chargers. A 15 W charger at 70% efficiency = 10.5 W. That is about 1/2 the effective output of a 20 W charger, which equals 1/2 the charging speed.

 

[Dolmio]

I don't see it as a failure per se as Apple probably didn't do all that trouble only for charging purposes and some cases. Apple probably intended a much richer accessories ecosystem. What we're seeing is just the 1.0 version of it.

Agreed it’s version 1 and they need to add some data connection in the next version for it to be a port alternative . However it would have been nice to charge the MacBook Pro , iPad and iPhone all on the same usb C system . Easier for the user and better for the environment so it sucks a bit Apple going for a proprietary system just for revenue

 

[NightFox]

Yes - appreciate the issue of what is in the phone. I was considering the possibility that this iteration was a first step - proof of concept, see how people react, etc. - with the 2021 version having enhanced specification. Obviously, we'd expect them to be compatible, but only managing higher charging rates when a 2021 MagSafe puck is used with a 2021 MagSafe phone.

Once you reach a certain coil size, it's more efficient to go to multiple coils than just going bigger with a single coil. Then you're starting to look at something like the ill-fated AirPower design, though maybe Apple learned something from that they could bring to a future iteration of MagSafe charging. It will be interesting to see how warm the MagSafe charger gets, as heat dissipation is one of the challenges they'd have to face here.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Did you see the videos of the wallet falling off the back? Imagine how easy a battery will fall off.

I hope they will just make the usual battery case.

use stronger magnets on the battery?

dont want a battery case that lasts 1 year before i have to buy another damn case because apple changed the size.

 

[polyphenol]

use stronger magnets on the battery?

dont want a battery case that lasts 1 year before i have to buy another damn case because apple changed the size.

The current specifications I already posted do not appear to allow for any significant change in specification for the magnets.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/accessory-design-guidelines-for-apple-devices.2261930/

 

[RodSerlingLives]

I’m not going to be upset about Gen 1 of MagSafe on an iPhone. They will keep iterating and it will improve before they dump the lightning port at some point. For now, the system is a solid choice for charging and accessories, especially since you normally can’t pick up your device when wireless charging. I don’t need one right now, but I can see myself getting it in the future.

 

[mazz0]

ive said its just a gimmick and pointless

When did he say that? I figured he'd still only say nice things about Apple since they're still working together.

I hope they will just make the usual battery case.

They could still make it a case (so it's not going to fall off) but it could use wireless charging to pass the electricity over instead of extending out at the bottom to plug into the Lightning port. Of course, that would effectively reduce its capacity by what, 30%? and also increase the temperature of the phone, so maybe they won't do that.