Portable power banks that charge your phone are popular, but wireless battery packs using Apple’s MagSafe technology offer a simpler and smarter cable-free solution for iPhone 12, 13, 14 and 15 users. Phone batteries are prone to run dry just when you’re heading away from a power source, so having a portable charging source is one of today’s necessities. Annoyingly, most power banks require you to carry around a cable, too.
Wireless power banks do away with cables but come with their own major limitation – the inefficiency of wireless charging means you need a high-capacity power bank to fully charge a drained iPhone.
I use one as a quick bedside iPhone charger so I can charge and use the phone at the same time without having to worry about cable length. And of course I carry one around with me in my bag for on-the-move recharging.
MagSafe is a technology that’s compatible with all iPhone 12, 13, 14 and 15 models, from the mini to the Pro Max. It allows accessories to connect magnetically to the back of the iPhone. The MagSafe connection is precise enough to make wireless charging more efficient as around 20 percent of Qi power loss is from poor placement of a phone and the wireless charging pad. Standard Qi wireless charging can lose as much as 50 percent of the portable battery’s power, MagSafe and Qi2 wireless charging loses ‘just’ 30 percent.
While it’s not as efficient as using a cable to charge a phone, MagSafe is a tech that brings true wireless charging a step closer to doing
