MagSafe was a really neat little reveal during Apple’s last press conference. Sure, it also showed off an entirely new iPhone 12 (and made everyone roll their eyes at the idea of “saving the planet” by removing the charger from the box) so MagSafe fell to the wayside amidst all the hype. Yet one of the big things many took from the MagSafe announcement was the 15W fast charging functionality. Just being able to snap a magnet to the back of your iPhone and watch that battery trickle upwards faster than you’d expect… well, it does make life a whole lot easier. Unfortunately, as with most Apple products, it’s not actually that simple.
Zollotech, a tech-based YouTube channel run by Aaron Zollo that handles specific tech breakdowns and tests ran a few tests to determine the exact charging speeds offered by MagSafe. Zollo tested the charge using two adapters: The 18W unit that comes packaged with the iPhone 11 Pro and a standalone 20W adapter that you’ll need to purchase separately.
MagSafe seemingly needs more oomph…
As I’m sure you’ve no doubt already predicted, the tests conducted by Zollo show that the 15W charge is only reached when paired with the 20W adapter. When used with the 18W adapter that many consumers looking to upgrade to the iPhone 12 will already have, the device took a while to ramp up the charge speed but never peaked past 13W.
Which isn’t too bad, but bank on Apple to reveal a really neat feature and then require consumers to purchase another accessory just to make it work.
Zollo also went the extra mile and tested a range of other Apple adapters, none of which fared any better. When paired with MagSafe the 96W MacBook Pro USB-C adapter managed a measly 10W and third-party adapters taken from a Google Pixel and a Samsung Note 20 Ultra only managed between 6W and 9W.
So there’s the catch, folks. While MagSafe does indeed offer 15W fast charging you’ll need to pay Apple a little more to actually make use of the feature. Just because we’re not surprised doesn’t mean we’re not disappointed.
(Source: AppleInsider)