iPhone 12 Whats the point of adding MagSafe?

[VSMacOne]

Current advantages are that it's faster than Qi, allows for the phone to be used while charging, aligns correctly much easier due to the magnets, will support a huge array of accessories, and will put less wear on the Lightning port (eventually I expect that MagSafe will enable a port-less iPhone) and easier to plug in than Lightning (especially in the car). I'm excited!

 

[Jason2000]

Yes but they do it for money.
Each third party manufacturer has to pay Apple a fee for every single Lighting connector to be certified which is huge profit for Apple. MagSafe allows them to go Wireless while keeping this very lucrative B2B fees with third party manufacturer to be certified MagSafe and allow 15W charging speed. It's one of the key reason Apple don't care about USB-C, no fee here while not beeing "brand new" from a marketing / average Joe perspective + MagSafe allow to increase price and margin per accessory.

Of course they do it for money. The are a for profit corporation.

 

[Caesars]

Apple doesn’t have a monopoly on QI charging so they need to sell the “Brand” and hope all it’s customers don’t go buy the $15 wireless charger on amazon.

 

[darngooddesign]

Maybe 100% waterproof.

It's not going to be 100% waterproof until they get rid of the Sim tray, silent switch, volume buttons, and power button.

 

[Lwii2boo]

Current advantages are that it's faster than Qi, allows for the phone to be used while charging, aligns correctly much easier due to the magnets, will support a huge array of accessories, and will put less wear on the Lightning port (eventually I expect that MagSafe will enable a port-less iPhone) and easier to plug in than Lightning (especially in the car). I'm excited!

It's not faster than Qi. Apple intendly limit Qi on iOS device at 7.5W. Qi is at the bare minimum at 15w charging speed in any medium/high range Android device.

Apple just closes the Qi door to build a proprietary standard to claim fees to third party manufacturer to be certified. Exactly like Lightning. And this is why they don't care about USB-C and Qi anymore on iPhone.

 

[saber32au]

A good wired USB-C fast charge is really all I want.

You and many others! When I traveled both for work and pleasure (before COVID of course!), it was nice using 1 cable to charge the majority of my devices (laptop, tablet, partners USB-C equipped phone, wireless headphones etc). It wasn't a big deal to carry a lightning cable to charge an iphone; but a charging pad? Sure, it's doable but certainly not ideal IMHO.

At least the Magsafe charger is USB-C equipped!!!

 

[Taco1933]

Wireless charging should be better. Magnetic car mounts should be better. It isn’t really a big deal, but some people will find it useful.

 

[oneMadRssn]

I'd love to know the answer to this as well because I'm not looking forward to syncing contents on my Mac to my iPhone over wifi. I feel like it would take much longer than it already does with a Lightning cable.

I'll admit it's been a while since I've synched my iPhone with my Mac.

My understanding is that Lightning on iPhone is limited to USB2 speeds, which is 480Mbps.

Wifi5 (802.11ac wave 2) can have real-world transfer speeds of 600Mbps, or even faster if the signal is great. So right away, if the WiFi router is decently new (purchased in last few years), it will likely be as fast or maybe slightly faster than using the Lightning cable.

With Wifi6, which the iPhone 11 and newer have, people have reported real-world transfer speeds of 1-1.5Gbps. So that's 2-3x faster than the Lightning cable can offer.

Now there are other bottlenecks. Likely the transfer speed of the flash memory in the iPhone itself is a factor, as well as the i/o performance of any controllers, and of profile of the files that need to be synched (e.g., copying 1 large file is always faster than copying many tiny files). And of course, a cable will always be more reliable and less prone to errors. But in theory, Wifi syncing should be as fast or faster than using the current Lightning cable.

However, Apple should support USB-C and the full 5-10Gbps that can provide. That will easily blow away even the best WiFi by a magnitude.

 

[saber32au]

Wifi5 (802.11ac wave 2) can have real-world transfer speeds of 600Mbps, or even faster if the signal is great. So right away, if the WiFi router is decently new (purchased in last few years), it will likely be as fast or maybe slightly faster than using the Lightning cable.

The other option is to have the phone wireless connect to PC/Mac (ie like wireless tethering), removing the need for a router altogether. Great for people who don't own a desktop PC...

 

[lordhamster]

Wireless charging has always been plagued by a few significant usability issues:

• Alignment. If you don't put the phone on the charger correctly, it will not charge as fast and will generate more heat potentially. Furthermore, depending on the phone and the charger combo... phones have been known to slide off or easily get knocked off-center. Personally, I once woke up for an early flight at 4am, only to realize my pillow must have knocked my phone off-center on my bedside charger. Magsafe solves this alignment and "sticking" issue.
• Brief usage. I've OFTEN seen people on the interwebs complain that they don't like wireless charging because in order to answer a text, or check a score, or whatever.... they have to take the phone OFF the charger. Magsafe can solve this in that the lightweight puck stays attached and charging if you casually pick up the phone. For those who don't like the puck to "stick" to the phone, I'm sure there will be weighted alternatives. Worst case, you can double-sided tape it to the table.
• Standardization. While there are many cases out there that have built in magnets for in-car wireless charging/magnetic mounting, they each have a different "standard" for magnet arrangement. It will be nice once all 3rd party magnetic chargers (especially for cars) begin to adopt the same standard.

Clearly wired charger is better for many of these, but that is where the "safe" comes in. I've often had my phone plugged in at my desk when I decide to get up and go someplace. Several times, I've forgotten it was plugged in and ended up yanking the cord. My kids have managed to even bend the lightning port on their iPads. The Magsafe concept would prevent damage in this manner.

 

[teohyc]

Technology is suppose to help people save time and money.

MagSafe here is just a convenient feature, and to help Apple sell more accessories.

People can't even connect a cable to the port to charge anymore? Placing it on a Qi charger is significantly more convenient and saves more time?

 

[VSMacOne]

It's not faster than Qi. Apple intendly limit Qi on iOS device at 7.5W. Qi is at the bare minimum at 15w charging speed in any medium/high range Android device.

Apple just closes the Qi door to build a proprietary standard to claim fees to third party manufacturer to be certified. Exactly like Lightning. And this is why they don't care about USB-C and Qi anymore on iPhone.

MagSafe is actually faster than Qi. On the iPhone. I'm not arguing about Apple's choices here, but nobody should be surprised that Apple is creating a custom use case and experience. That's literally what they do. But I think a lot of arguments have been made regarding the longevity of batteries that are charged very fast, compared to ones that are charged slower.

 

[AdonisSMU]

Technology is suppose to help people save time and money.

MagSafe here is just a convenient feature, and to help Apple sell more accessories.

People can't even connect a cable to the port to charge anymore? Placing it on a Qi charger is significantly more convenient and saves more time?

Ive always wanted to attach a wallet to the back of my iPhone...since I first saw it some years ago. But it usually involves some sticky tape. So I passed.
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Wireless charging has always been plagued by a few significant usability issues:

• Alignment. If you don't put the phone on the charger correctly, it will not charge as fast and will generate more heat potentially. Furthermore, depending on the phone and the charger combo... phones have been known to slide off or easily get knocked off-center. Personally, I once woke up for an early flight at 4am, only to realize my pillow must have knocked my phone off-center on my bedside charger. Magsafe solves this alignment and "sticking" issue.
• Brief usage. I've OFTEN seen people on the interwebs complain that they don't like wireless charging because in order to answer a text, or check a score, or whatever.... they have to take the phone OFF the charger. Magsafe can solve this in that the lightweight puck stays attached and charging if you casually pick up the phone. For those who don't like the puck to "stick" to the phone, I'm sure there will be weighted alternatives. Worst case, you can double-sided tape it to the table.
• Standardization. While there are many cases out there that have built in magnets for in-car wireless charging/magnetic mounting, they each have a different "standard" for magnet arrangement. It will be nice once all 3rd party magnetic chargers (especially for cars) begin to adopt the same standard.

Clearly wired charger is better for many of these, but that is where the "safe" comes in. I've often had my phone plugged in at my desk when I decide to get up and go someplace. Several times, I've forgotten it was plugged in and ended up yanking the cord. My kids have managed to even bend the lightning port on their iPads. The Magsafe concept would prevent damage in this manner.

I didn’t think of it from this perspective. These are some good points.

 

[Harmonious Zen]

The only pro to MagSafe is that it charges at 15w. But seeing as how I just plop my phone on a wireless 7.5w charger (and have for the past two years) when I'm at my desk or in bed, that really is not a big deal to me. I also have not once ever had an issue with alignment on the wireless chargers I use. Nor have I ever heard anyone complaining about that.

This really sounds like apple either moving to a port-less iPhone eventually OR just trying to create another ecosystem of accessories.