Apple’s revived MagSafe charging standard opens the door to a portless iPhone

Apple revived one of its most beloved technologies, MagSafe, at its annual iPhone unveiling on Tuesday, showcasing a new line of smartphones with built-in magnets on the back for fast and sturdy connections to wireless chargers, snap cases and other accessories.

While the old MagSafe was a safety feature for charging laptops without worrying about damaging your machine when the cable was pulled out, the new MagSafe is a smart, smartphone-centric accessory kit for Apple. It enables the company to build a new ecosystem of devices for the iPhone that it fully controls, much like Lightning and Apple’s other proprietary ports and cables, while offering tangible benefits such as 15W faster charging.

But while MagSafe now seems like a nice companion feature to the recently announced iPhones, it paves the way for Apple to make magnetic wireless charging the centerpiece of how we charge all of our devices going forward. Just look at the company’s new MagSafe Duo charger, a wireless charging stand for Apple Watch and iPhone, or the even more robust (and extravagant-looking) 3-in-1 MagSafe charger from Belkin that lets you charge an Apple Watch, AirPods. and an iPhone at the same time. Both seem to bring us closer to a world in which the iPhone does not need to be compatible with Lightning charging or any type of cable charging.

Image: Belkin

And Apple is rumored to be working on a portless iPhone for that very reason. Eliminating the port would mean that Apple could avoid, if it wanted to, transitioning its line of smartphones to the USB-C standard that it now uses in high-end MacBooks and iPads. It would also allow the company to make even thinner devices, using the same logic it used when it removed the headphone jack. Waterproofing could become even more effective with fewer holes in your phone, especially if Apple can convince us (and cell phone operators) to adopt a built-in SIM card rather than including a SIM slot in every phone. With MagSafe, Apple could introduce an alternative way to fully charge your phone via wireless charging and whatever cables and adapters you can think of to solve your charging needs on the go.

There is certainly a financial incentive for Apple to maintain control of its charging ecosystem. Apple’s “wearables, home and accessories” division, which includes major products like Apple Watch and AirPods in addition to all cables and chargers, was the top earner in the company’s most recent financial quarter. But it’s basically back and forth with the entire iPad business and makes close to $ 6.5 billion per quarter, so it’s still vital to Apple’s bottom line as its iPhone revenue growth continues to slow and Apple. it relies more on its ecosystem and services.

But Apple is known to at least make an effort to offer a consumer benefit in exchange for avoiding universal standards or making a broadly anti-consumer product choice. In this case, a total investment in MagSafe seems to have some very real improvements in the quality of life of owning an iPhone, even if it involves some serious habit changes for iPhone owners.

For one thing, wireless charging is simply easier and less cumbersome than connecting a cable, and even more so when there are magnets involved so you don’t have to adjust the position of the device to make sure the charger is activated. MagSafe also presents situations like using your phone in bed without worrying about bending or breaking a cable or damaging the phone port.

Also, the sheer variety and usefulness of accessories that you can now make thanks to the built-in magnets on the back of the iPhone is exciting. The snap wallet and red leather charging case that Apple is making are just a couple of the myriad potential accessories we can imagine. Think snap-on magnetic zoom lenses or case packs that can be magnetically attached and don’t need to be forcibly ripped off your phone if you want to swap one for the other. PopSocket, the leading manufacturer of removable iPhone grips, is sure to work fast on MagSafe-ready versions of their products.

Image: Apple

For Apple, MagSafe also presents an opportunity for it to do a little product revisionism after last year’s AirPower fiasco, in which Apple canceled the already announced product after determining that it couldn’t reliably create all-in-one wireless charging. . mat thought he could. While AirPower appears to be gone for good, MagSafe is back to help Apple fully realize wireless charging, and MagSafe brings with it the consumer goodwill it amassed during its time on the MacBook line (although the previous iteration of MagSafe it doesn’t look like this current one at all).

But MagSafe won’t really shine unless Apple gives it the limelight, and doing so by making an iPhone without a port seems much more likely after yesterday’s announcement. The big questions, however, are whether consumers will find it as hostile as removing the headphone jack and whether Apple can convince us enough that it will actually improve our lives to overcome the hassles of getting rid of all cables, chargers, and others. accessories that we keep accumulating every time the iPhone undergoes a change.