Apple without any fanfare, release the MagSafe Battery Pack for the iPhone 12 in July 2021. It a new kind of battery pack from Apple, the first the use Wireless Charging and MagSafe connection for the battery pack. The MagSafe Battery Pack is a unique product at the moment because only Apple sell a MagSafe Battery Pack, but it is good enough against the competition? Read on to find out.
MagSafe Battery Pack
The MagSafe Battery Pack - Get at Amazon was released in July 2021 without any fanfare. One day, you just find out Apple release it. BAMM! The pricing is set at $99, which is expensive for normal battery pack, but it was not out of typical pricing point for battery packs made by Apple. Apple previously released a silicon case battery pack at around the same price.
One of the features of the battery pack that it uses MagSafe to connect and charge. The MagSafe, through the use of magnets, allow a perfect alignment between the charging coil on the battery and the iPhone, so you can push up to 15w of charging power from the battery to the iPhone. Unfortunately, during testing, you can only charge up to 9w if the battery is connected to a plug and 5w if it used as a battery itself.
One unique aspect of the battery pack is the way it charge the iPhone itself. Instead of constantly powering the iPhone to 100%, the aim of the battery pack is the maintain a 80% charge on the iPhone itself. Reasoning behind such a move is to preserve the health of the iPhone and the battery. If you ever recharge any battery, you would notice that it takes as much time to go from 0% to 80% compared to 80% to 100%. This as the battery gets fully charge, the electrons have harder time to charge up the last 20% of the battery. Hence the 80% number.
Another misnomer is that battery capacity is “only” 1460mAh. Yes, that is was it says on the battery, but the voltage on the battery is rated at 7.6v instead of the typical 3.6v on normal battery. If we take the voltage on the same level, the battery capacity will be rated at 2920mAh. Still lower than the competition, but not as low as you think.
Another feature of MagSafe is that is also carry some sort of communication protocol along with power. So, instead of pressing the battery for charge indicator, you get the exact power level from the power widget in your iPhone. You can say the MagSafe is a bit smarter than the competition.
Another thing to note that the magnets, although quite weak, is strong enough to make an impression on a MagSafe case. Couple with heat that you get from charging your iPhone through the Qi coils, you will get a permanent mark around the MagSafe area.
The final “feature” if that is your thing is the the MagSafe Battery Pack is designed by Apple for the iPhone, so the dimensions are form fitting for the iPhone and the design complements well with the iPhone. If you want everything to look great and well design, this one is for you.
Alternatives
Now here are some of the alternatives and why they mattered if looks is not the top of you list when choosing battery packs
Anker Wireless Power Core - $49.99 at Amazon - This battery pack as a Qi charging port at the side of the pack, so you put on a table and it will charge the iPhone 2-3 times before running out of juice. It can push out 10w for Samsung phones while only manage 7.5w for iPhones.
Anker Magnetic Wireless Portable PowerCore - $49.99 at Amazon - The battery pack only have 5000mAh instead of the 10000mAh of the previous solution, but it has magnets to help keep the alignment in check to provide perfect alignment to the Qi charging coil. Notice that it is not MagSafe, so the battery level won’t appear on the battery widget.
Generic Brand Portable Charger - $27.95 at Amazon - or Omni 20+ Portable Charger - $199.00 at Amazon - You can also opt for a larger capacity battery to not only power your iPhone, but also your MacBook Pro. The prospect of doing so never come to mind 5 years ago, but with power standardization to USB-C port, such scenario is now commond. The only downside of having a higher capacity battery is that the battery pack will be much heavier than a 5000mAh pack. But if you are a road warrior, and a huge battery pack is part of your daily arsenal.
Anker PowerCore - $24.99 at Amazon - There’s also the “low tech” way of just getting a battery pack with USB-C sticking out to your phone. Yes, it does not have the sleek design of a wireless or MagSafe pack, but if it works, it ain’t stupid as Murphy would say. And consider the amount of money that you safe by going to the traditional route, consider you can buy 4 of these PowerCore to be use on a rotation basis instead of just 1 MagSafe battery pack. If that’s your thing.
Conclusion
So, the MagSafe Battery Pack is the best designed battery pack for the iPhone 12, do note that there are alternatives that perform better in one aspect. The MagSafe is the all-rounded that is not best at everything, but best overall experince. If you need somehting better in terms of battery power, charging times or capabilities, the alternatives can provide such needs, but if you wanted the best battery pack for the iPhone 12, the MagSafe Battery Pack is it.