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The future of MagSafe... apples love of proprietary connections

James Godfrey

James Godfrey

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Oct 13, 2011
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So Apple have decided to not add USB-C and instead stuck with lightning on the iPhone 12 line, but have added another proprietary connection ‘MagSafe’ but why?

Apple have always been hell bent on proprietary connections as this will earn them more revenue from accessory makers who want that official ‘made for xxx’ Apple stamp on their box.

The introduction of MagSafe firmly confirms that USB-C is never coming to the iPhone, and instead Apple will make the device port-less in the future, but does this make sense for Apple to do? Simple answer ‘YES’.

Just like when Apple introduced the lightning connector to the iPhone, MagSafe is just another transition period over to a new standard, is here to stay, and has been in the works for a long time...

For many years now Apple has been pushing wireless technology... Airdrop, Bluetooth, AirPods, iCloud Drive etc have all made the port on the iPhone slowly become more and more redundant which is gradually only getting used to charge the device 90% of the time and nothing else for the majority of consumers.

Now with the introduction of MagSafe, Apple have come up with an alternative to the traditional charging method to get its consumers used to what is coming soon... a port-less iPhone, this is backed up further with the removal of the EarPods from the iPhone line up.

But wait... what about all those speaker docks, wired headphones/earbuds etc everyone has... this... I am afraid is just history repeating itself just like when Apple removed the old 30 pin charging connector... and more recently the headphone jack.

Already we are seeing Apple coming out with products to get ready for a port-less iPhone for the general consumer...

Need to replace your speaker dock... Apple have the HomePod and more recently the more affordable HomePod Mini for that.

Need to replace your wired headset, Apple have AirPods Max for that, likely a more affordable version in the not so distant future.

Need to replace your wired earbuds, AirPods are an option with a guarantee of AirPods SE coming to the market soon for the lower end market.

Apple are slowly setting their product line up for a fully wireless iPhone, and it is coming, will it be in 2021... possibly... but I think it will most likely be in 2022... who knows at this point.

Will MagSafe be made better, of course, but not for a good while yet... MagSafe as we know now, I think is here to stay for a good many years, yes it has draw backs but it’s not like Apple is stopping its customers from using standard Qi charging.

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So will Apple introduce MagSafe to other products... there is only maybe one product that could potentially see MagSafe introduced in the future... and that is AirPods and AirPods Pro...

The reason I think these ‘may’ get MagSafe is because they are one of the only mobile type products that utilise an industry standard charging method by default... Qi charging... BUT at the same time the AirPods themselves can only be charged in Apples proprietary charging case and have apples proprietary lightning connection on the case, so this may never happen.

So what about iPad and MacBook?

I don’t think these will ever get MagSafe, and the reason being is that Apple have already accepted the industry standard USB-C into these product lines, and these also need ports in order for them to be used effectively as it just doesn’t make sense for these products to become fully port-less... plus the iPad technically already has a proprietary connection with the smart connector on the back which again earns Apple $$$ from third party keyboard manufacturers who want to utilise it.

What are your thoughts on MagSafes future, do you think it’s here to stay... will we see a MagSafe 2 in a year or so... be interested to see what other people’s views are on this?
 
I think its here to stay, and I also think its a crappy product. Calling it "wireless charging" is comical.
 
I think MagSafe is here to stay. If you don't like proprietary connections or the whole Apple does things a different way in their walled garden you're in the wrong ecosystem. Buying Apple then complaining about what Apple has always done and will continue to do might be entertaining but you're not going to be a happy customer if you're buying their products.

My prediction is the Lightning connector will go away with the iPhone 14. It could happen with the 13 but IDK that's kind of short term. There will be another propitiatory connection similar to the iPad keyboard connector for cases when a direct connection is needed.
 
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russell_314 said:
I think MagSafe is here to stay. If you don't like proprietary connections or the whole Apple does things a different way in their walled garden you're in the wrong ecosystem. Buying Apple then complaining about what Apple has always done and will continue to do might be entertaining but you're not going to be a happy customer if you're buying their products.

My prediction is the Lightning connector will go away with the iPhone 14. It could happen with the 13 but IDK that's kind of short term. There will be another propitiatory connection similar to the iPad keyboard connector for cases when a direct connection is needed.
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Yeah I think there will be some form of connection similar to iPad... or we may see MagSafe being able to transfer data possibly in the future.... might be possible I’m not sure.

I also agree we won’t see a port-less iPhone in 2021, most likely 2022.

I am not at all against apples way of doing things, but it’s fascinating to see how instead of just adopting USB-C in their iPhones, they have took the time to create a new proprietary connection,
I am also very surprised the AirPods Max and MagSafe Duo feature lightning, I did not expect that, I fully expected USB-C on those devices... but again this shows apples insistence on proprietary connections.
 
James Godfrey said:
Yeah I think there will be some form of connection similar to iPad... or we may see MagSafe being able to transfer data possibly in the future.... might be possible I’m not sure.

I also agree we won’t see a port-less iPhone in 2021, most likely 2022.

I am not at all against apples way of doing things, but it’s fascinating to see how instead of just adopting USB-C in their iPhones, they have took the time to create a new proprietary connection,
I am also very surprised the AirPods Max and MagSafe Duo feature lightning, I did not expect that, I fully expected USB-C on those devices... but again this shows apples insistence on proprietary connections.
Click to expand...
I'm not surprised at all. Some people assumed because Apple did it on the iPad Pro that was going to mean a shift to USB-C. They did it for a specific use case and that use case doesn't exist on MagSafe or AirPods. I just don't see a reason for me why I would want USB-C on my iPhone. I only use the port for charging and mostly I'm going wireless with that. Apple sells products not on useless specs but with use cases in mind. If you're putting an inferior display on your phone it's easy to throw some spec like screen resolution to make it seem better. I couldn't tell you what resolution my iPhone is but what I can tell you is I like how it looks. I can't tell you how many mAh my battery is other than I know it's below 4k because of people talking about it on the forums but I can say my battery will last two days.
 
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russell_314 said:
I'm not surprised at all. Some people assumed because Apple did it on the iPad Pro that was going to mean a shift to USB-C. They did it for a specific use case and that use case doesn't exist on MagSafe or AirPods. I just don't see a reason for me why I would want USB-C on my iPhone. I only use the port for charging and mostly I'm going wireless with that. Apple sells products not on useless specs but with use cases in mind. If you're putting an inferior display on your phone it's easy to throw some spec like screen resolution to make it seem better. I couldn't tell you what resolution my iPhone is but what I can tell you is I like how it looks. I can't tell you how many mAh my battery is other than I know it's below 4k because of people talking about it on the forums but I can say my battery will last two days.
Click to expand...

Logically Apple changing from lightning to usb-c to port-less would have been a far worse scenario than what is currently happening.

I definitely agree with apples move with MagSafe... especially because they could have easily have made the iPhone 12 series not compatible with Qi which they haven’t done.

Will they make the iPhone unable to use Qi in the future?... I doubt it at this point, because MagSafe generally gives you some benefits over Qi so it has its selling points it’s just a case of whether said benefits suit the user or not.
 
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James Godfrey said:
Logically Apple changing from lightning to usb-c to port-less would have been a far worse scenario than what is currently happening.

I definitely agree with apples move with MagSafe... especially because they could have easily have made the iPhone 12 series not compatible with Qi which they haven’t done.

Will they make the iPhone unable to use Qi in the future?... I doubt it at this point, because MagSafe generally gives you some benefits over Qi so it has its selling points it’s just a case of whether said benefits suit the user or not.
Click to expand...
The only thing I don't like about MagSafe is it's sensitive to cases more than Qi. I can put my phone in an OtterBox Defender on a Qi charger but not so much MagSafe
 
Hooterville said:
I think it's a gimmick and we will not see it on next years iPhones :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I really don’t think it is... it’s a typical Apple feature... take something which is used by the masses (Qi) but do it better (MagSafe).

Now whether MagSafe is better is very subjective... it’s a love it or hate it situation... but Apple took the issues with Qi and made a wireless solution that defeats those issues but at the same time causes a few issues in itself.

Overall though, I truly believe MagSafe is here to stay, but will likely get improved over time.

So far though the only issues with MagSafe users are reporting are:

1. Two handed removal of the charger
2. Marks on cases
3. Excessive heat in some circumstances

But in return, you are getting a wireless option that:

1. Gives faster charging speeds
2. Eliminates the risk of the wireless charger not lining up
3. Ability to use your phone whilst wireless charging depending on the type of MagSafe charger used

Me personally I have never invested in a wireless charger due to those above three reasons... however MagSafe has sorted that for me, so I am likely going to be investing in MagSafe soon.
 
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Apple has made the simple act of charging your phone very complicated and nuanced. Travel used to mean grab a lighting cord.

of course the “Apple never does anything wrong, and you're behind the times” crowd will tell me that I’m wrong.
 
DanTSX said:
Apple has made the simple act of charging your phone very complicated and nuanced. Travel used to mean grab a lighting cord.

of course the “Apple never does anything wrong, and you're behind the times” crowd will tell me that I’m wrong.
Click to expand...
I agree, at least for now. They’re transitioning to more profits - err, courageousness. So the next couple of years will be them giving us solutions to problems that don’t exist and taking away perfectly fine solutions. In about 5 years I predict homes will need to be re-wired to support their new iPhone charging standards 🤪😉😳
 
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shr631 said:
I agree, at least for now. They’re transitioning to more profits - err, courageousness. So the next couple of years will be them giving us solutions to problems that don’t exist and taking away perfectly fine solutions. In about 5 years I predict homes will need to be re-wired to support their new iPhone charging standards 🤪😉😳
Click to expand...

You’ll need to buy the new Apple car to charge it 🤣🤣😬😂😛
 
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