Written by Aditya Arun• October 14, 2020• 4:30 pm• Apple • One Comment • Views: 0

MagSafe | A portal to a whole new world of accessories

When the leaks of a “magnetic ring” on the back casing of the iPhone 12 series came in, people were visibly confused. What purpose could that serve? Is it at attachment point for something? A few days before the event, the name “MagSafe” started surfacing from the leakers, and that’s all we needed to know the answer.

Before we dive deeper into MagSafe, here are the links to the other products announced today: (will be updated as the articles are posted)

Solving Wireless Charging

The primary purpose of MagSafe was to solve a major problem — Apple didn’t have their own wireless charger. AirPower tried to solve that a year ago. Touted as the end-all of wireless chargers by Apple, it combined a lot of wireless charging coils into one mat, so you could theoretically place up to 3 devices anywhere on the pad. Unfortunately, Apple bit off more than it could chew, and canceled product development due to overheating issues.

With MagSafe Charger, Apple takes the direct opposite approach of what they took with AirPower. Instead of making a surface where you can keep the phone anywhere, MagSafe aligns the charging pads precisely using (as the name implies), magnets. It can also work with cases if you’re using the new MagSafe variants. Apple is selling it for $39.

Apple also unveiled the MagSafe Duo Charger, which has two magnetic surfaces to charge both an iPhone and Apple Watch on the same surface. It has a hinge in the middle, so that it can be folded and carried around effortlessly.

Third-party accessory makers have already joined the train, with Apple showing off Belkin’s Car Mount charger (left) and a Multi-charger Dock (right). Expect tons more chargers from other companies to join the fleet in the following months.

MagSafe Accessories

Apart from the main function of wireless charging, the MagSafe system can also be used for a wide range of accessories.

The new MagSafe Cases come in Silicone (left), Clear (Middle), and Leather (right) finishes. They all attach using the magnetic system, which makes installation easier than traditional cases. The cases also act as a passthrough, which means you can connect other MagSafe accessories on top of it as well.

Other MagSafe accessories from Apple include the Leather Wallet (left) , which has shielding to protect credit cards from the magnetic field. The Leather Sleeve (right) uses MagSafe sensors to detect when the iPhone is inside, and display the time through the small clear window. And I have to say, that’s one ugly looking sleeve.

As with the wireless chargers, expect tons of fun accessories like these to pop up from the thousands of iPhone accessory makers.

With MagSafe, Apple has successfully turned it’s AirPower failure into a functional system, with a wide scope of accessories. As Apple slowly marches towards a port-less iPhone in the near future, MagSafe and UWB will be the primary means for your iPhone to interact with other accessories.

MagSafe Charger and MagSafe Duo Charger will be backwards compatible with older wireless-charging capable iPhones, AirPods Pro, and 2nd Generation AirPods as well.

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