A few days ago, Apple unexpectedly introduced a brand new MagSafe Battery Pack, which is primarily intended for the iPhone 12 series. However, the price of 109 euros left many fans amazed and complaining. Although cheaper alternatives are of course available, there are some reasons that speak in favor of Apple's version.
Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack is an external 1460 mAh battery that magnetically attaches to the back of an iPhone 12 model, extending battery life. The product is comparable to the numerous alternatives from Mophie, Anker, Zens, Hyper and more. Admittedly, compared to Anker's version with 5,000 mAh capacity and a much lower price, Apple's product looks pretty bad - but it isn't.
Apple offers real MagSafe
One of the main differences between Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack and the competition is that Apple's version actually offers MagSafe technology. All other products are just external batteries with a Qi charging coil and some magnets. This means that by using real MagSafe instead of Qi, Apple's battery gets improved efficiency. It can also transfer up to 15W of power. Normal portable Qi batteries are usually limited to 5W. Apple's version is also limited to 5W on the go. But when connected to a cable, it provides a maximum of 15W of charging power - which is significantly more. The next advantage is that when the MagSafe Battery Pack is attached to your iPhone and you plug it into the power supply, both your phone and the external battery will be charged. Since the product supports reverse charging, it works the other way around too.
Deep iOS integration
This means that if you have your iPhone connected to a charging cable, both the phone and the MagSafe battery will be charged. Pretty convenient, right? Speaking of charging, Apple's external battery uses Lightning. So you can use your iPhone charging cable and don't need another one. However, there is another point that justifies the extra cost. Apple continues the tight integration between hardware and software here too. For example, no other battery pack can keep up with Apple's system-level features. If you use an iPhone 12 model in combination with Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack, you can see the remaining capacity on the screen. The whole thing is also displayed in the native battery widget.
System ensures long battery life
But that's not all. This type of integration also helps protect the batteries. High temperatures can damage lithium batteries during charging. Third-party batteries will continue to charge in such cases. This can damage both the battery pack's battery cells and those of your much more expensive iPhone. Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack works differently here. According to the company, it automatically stops at 80 percent charging capacity when the temperature rises above a certain threshold. Otherwise, it would normally charge up to 90 percent of the iPhone battery. In addition, it requires more energy, is slower and puts more strain on the battery. Apple's version therefore ensures that both the external battery and the iPhone battery have the longest possible lifespan.
Apple MagSafe Battery Pack Capacity
But what about the capacity? The data that Apple provides is putting off many fans. Third-party products often state around 5,000 mAh, while Apple "only" comes in at 1,460 mAh. However, the whole thing cannot be compared in this form. More important than the milliampere hours are the power and the voltage. The milliampere hour specification is often used to define how much a battery can charge a device. But this only works as a comparable metric if both the battery and the device being charged have an identical voltage. So let's move on to the current iPhone generation. All iPhone 12 models use 3.81V batteries, so the MagSafe battery has a higher voltage potential and therefore a higher watt-hour rating than the iPhone it is charging. This means that the MagSafe Battery Pack can provide more power to an iPhone than its milliampere hour rating suggests.
Apple MagSafe Battery Pack: The Highlights
Of course, we don't know how much extra battery life the product can actually offer an iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro or Pro Max device. But we will find out next week when the product officially goes on sale. As we have already established, MagSafe charging technology is more efficient than Qi. In fact, MagSafe works about 50 percent more efficiently, which means that almost half of the energy in the battery is wasted during transmission. MagSafe is therefore much more efficient. With its larger capacity and higher efficiency, Apple's MagSafe Battery Pack will certainly perform much better than its competitors in terms of actual charging potential. Here are the highlights in advance:
- Real MagSafe
- Deep iOS integration
- Lightning
- Reverse Charging
But as I said, we will know more as soon as the product is actually available. So if you want to pre-order, you can do so directly from Apple or wait for the upcoming reports. If you pre-ordered directly, you can look forward to delivery on July 19th. Amazon has also already added the product to its range. You can find it among all the other MagSafe accessories in our Amazon Storefront – have fun browsing. (Image: Apple)
