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mizzoucat

macrumors regular
Original poster
Mar 8, 2005
227
146
So I’ve had the new MagSafe wireless charger for the last 3 days. I paired it with the new Apple 20w brick as recommended. When wirelessly charging the iPhone SE 2nd gen, I was getting a pathetic 1.5w! And with my Galaxy S20 5G, 1.8w! So if you plan on wirelessly charging anything other than the 12 (which I will test today), save your money!!
 
So I’ve had the new MagSafe wireless charger for the last 3 days. I paired it with the new Apple 20w brick as recommended. When wirelessly charging the iPhone SE 2nd gen, I was getting a pathetic 1.5w! And with my Galaxy S20 5G, 1.8w! So if you plan on wirelessly charging anything other than the 12 (which I will test today), save your money!!

Clickbait-ish title.

You haven't used on a MagSafe device yet.

I'd be reticent to render it "garbage" if it hasn't been used as intended.

Otherwise, I agree: no reason to purchase this type of charger if your phone doesn't have the requisite hardware to fully harness its fully capabilities.
 
You’d still hope it charges other Qi devices though. Expecting/excusing it to MagSafe only seems very limiting

seems odd though - my iphone 11 was on about 3% last night around 1am, popped it on the MagSafe/20w charger and it was full in the morning at 8am. Maybe that’s long enough for a full charge even at low watts?
 
You’d still hope it charges other Qi devices though. Expecting/excusing it to MagSafe only seems very limiting

seems odd though - my iphone 11 was on about 3% last night around 1am, popped it on the MagSafe/20w charger and it was full in the morning at 8am. Maybe that’s long enough for a full charge even at low watts?

Agree, my point was more a request to "wait-and-see" how it works with the 12/12 Pro.

However, seeing that MagSafe works w/ Androids (speeds UNK, though), it'll be interesting--to say the least--if Apple is limiting back-compat with software.

I'm sure someone has that teardown and analysis on the radar.
 
Tried a different app (Amperes) on my 12 Pro and got the full 15w! Tried with the 18w Apple brick and still got the full 15w (15.75w actually)! Furthermore, this was through a third party clear case (ESR). So that's good news. :) It must just be the non iPhone 12's that are extremely slow! Still inexcusable on Apple's part to advertise being able to charge other devices effectively.
 
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Pointless accessory though. I’ve paid circa £5 for wireless charging stands that do the same Job, just not as fast. Pretty sure like most folks the main charge is done whilst sleeping and whilst at work if I’m not using the phone I’ll put it on the wireless stand on the desk. Apple just loves all those apple tax suckers that buy all the ***** they pump out alongside the phones and then argue that it’s the best thing ever.
my current stand the phone can be lifted off one handed. Apple mugsafe (yes I know how I spelt it) needs to be disconnected. There wasn’t a problem to fix in the first place.
roll up,roll up, empty your wallets here...
 
Tried a different app (Amperes) on my 12 Pro and got the full 15w! Tried with the 18w Apple brick and still got the full 15w (15.75w actually)!

I just tried that App & got a result of 515mA through a Kmart 5w wireless stand & Apple’s 5w brick. Does that even make sense?

Edit...Now that I think about it, my test was undertaken during battery optimisation hours, so it wouldn’t have been charging at full capacity. Which makes sense as to why it was only at 0.5w.
 
I concur, the MagSafe charger is garbage, even on the iPhone 12 Pro. Apple admits it charges slower than the USB-C cable to the 20W adapter. I can verify this is true. What's even worse, I had the MagSafe charger plugged into the Apple 20W adapter and attached to my iPhone 12 Pro, and it was actually still losing charge when charging this way as my iPhone was downloading the apps after setting up from iCloud! I'm thinking of returning it.
 
Tried a different app (Amperes) on my 12 Pro and got the full 15w! Tried with the 18w Apple brick and still got the full 15w (15.75w actually)! Furthermore, this was through a third party clear case (ESR). So that's good news. :) It must just be the non iPhone 12's that are extremely slow! Still inexcusable on Apple's part to advertise being able to charge other devices effectively.
Which Amperes app is that if you don't mind me asking?
 
Poor recharging speeds have always been a negative with wireless charging.

Many people here were rallying for AirPower but there was never any indication that wireless charging would be as fast as a wired solution.

Even the new MagSafe iPhone charger is a gimmick. When it goes on sale I will buy an iPhone 12 mini but I will forgo the MagSafe charger at home.

I could imagine buying a third-party MagSafe charger for the car though.
 
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I've got an iPhone X and no need to upgrade to the 12, was excited about the MagSafe and the 20W charger to replace my Mophie wireless charger.

Extremely disappointing, thought I'd share the results of my Amperes 4 testing:

10 tests. Average Watts 2.35. Average time to increase 1% of battery life 180 seconds.

When I heard that MagSafe was going to be backwards compatible and capable of 15W speeds I thought it would be an upgrade from my Mophie and it's 7.5W. Hey, no magnets, but it's 2x as powerful, probably would get a little performance bump and that great new sleek form factor that's perfect for travel. At the very least, I thought, I'd be at the same 7.5W.

Never did I imagine that Apple would cap this thing at 2.4W. So I've got an $80 charger setup that has 25% of the speed of a three year old Mophie wireless charger and 50% of the speed of the drawerful of little cube USB pieces of crap.

Awesome.
 
mobilereviewseh did a review and got decent speeds. I don’t think anyone is realistically expecting this to charge as fast a 20w wired. You buy wireless for the convenience of not plugging in a cable and the knock on benefit of not having a cable dangling around on your table and probably falling down the side of your bed.
 
I love mine.
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