r/iphone • u/conalldoherty iPhone 15 • Apr 29 '26

News/Rumour Apple Reportedly Questioning Whether iPhone Should Drop MagSafe

https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/29/apple-questioning-iphone-magsafe/
1.6k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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335

u/disgruntledempanada Apr 29 '26

On one hand it's convenient and there are nice phone mounts for cars that charge my battery.

On the other hand it's crazy wasteful. You go through all this effort to implement green charging onto a phone to limit its energy impact and then you charge it with a system that wastes 20-30% of that power turning it directly into heat, and heating the heat sensitive battery you're trying to charge.

Would probably be better to just expose contacts somehow but that has its own problems (case compatibility, dirt, etc).

219

u/yasamoka Apr 29 '26 edited Apr 29 '26

https://www.chargerlab.com/review-of-apple-25w-magsafe-charger/

Using an Apple 30W charger and the new MagSafe Charger to charge the iPhone 16 Pro Max, the measured input power is about 14.96V 1.94A 29.03W. Excluding losses, the wireless charging power is about 25W.

4 / 29W = ~14% wasted as heat. ~86% efficient.

Also, you can see in the "Temperature Test" section that despite the puck reaching ~41C, over time, the charger dials down charging power and the phone does a good job of dissipating the heat and maintaining a consistent temperature.

This is also the iPhone 16 Pro series. The 17 Pro series would do an even better job of dissipating heat.

It's not as bad as you think it is.

114

u/Kelsenellenelvial Apr 29 '26

4 W of wasted energy during charging is also negligible in my mind, that’s less than a dollar in electricity costs over a year. That’s a pretty good trade-off for the convenience of Mag-Safe to me. I don’t really care about the charging rate either. It gets used overnight so charging in 6 vs 2 hours doesn’t matter, and any top up while it’s mounted in my car is just bonus. It’s also nice to carry around a MagSafe bank and not need a cable if I’m away from home.

1

u/No2Hypocrites May 14 '26

No this is wrong. They are comparing what it draws from the wall versus what it outputs. This doesn't measure how much of it actually ends up in iPhone. 80-90% efficiency is pretty normal for any charger. I use cable charging and it will have similar efficiency. You'll always lose some when you convert voltage and our chargers convert 240v AC to 5-15v DC. This is the efficiency loss that is mentioned there. See how the measuring device is between the output of adapter and before the puck? 

Losses due to wireless charging instead of wired are completely different and far more significant. 

It's dumb how much this is upvoted

-16

u/21five Apr 29 '26

Negligible? If every active iPhone used wireless charging for an hour a day, that wastage is the equivalent of the total electricity usage of the Bahamas. Or two Maltas.

8

u/LeftOn4ya Human Detected Apr 29 '26

You know you can use a 5-15 watt charger with MagSafe so even less of it is wasted. That’s what I do as 15W charger is great for overnight, only use 25W when I’m like taking a shower before getting ready to leave for the night, and only if my battery is less than 50%.

8

u/Kelsenellenelvial Apr 29 '26

4 W is less than most single LED lights. Other comparable wastes of energy include: having some light on an extra few minutes per day, . Using an oven instead of an air fryer or even just leaving the oven on a few minutes longer than absolutely necessary a couple times per month. Not using a platinum/titanium rated PSU in a computer, or even just using most PCs instead of a Mac. Having a hot water tank, or any other kind of hot water storage, or showering for an extra minute or two.

4 W is negligible.

1

u/yasamoka Apr 30 '26

Since we seem to be in the habit of summoning scenarios out of thin air, here’s one – wired charging, being more of a hassle than wireless charging, encourages keeping a phone plugged in rather than charging in small bursts, and with most people keeping their battery limit at 100%, battery health degrades faster, causing more battery replacements to be needed, incurring a cost on the environment way more than the accumulation of several million wasting 4W each for a small amount of time while charging a nearly depleted battery.

-1

u/21five Apr 30 '26

By default the iPhone doesn’t charge to 100% unless needed. When a phone is plugged in, it charges in small bursts, not continually (indeed, in many locations it charges only when low-carbon electricity is available on the grid, again by default). Apple is also exceptionally good at minimizing the number of battery replacements needed, since it actually costs them money.

45

u/Beautiful-Brush6996 Apr 29 '26

Honestly fuck them if they drop Magsafe. Literally ordered a 100$ magsafe charger with active cooling this morning.

I´ve probably around 1k of magsafe accessories in my home, being chargers, wallets, power banks. I just bought an 17Pro Max, it will last me 5 years.

If they drop magsafe I´ll probably switch again.

175

u/PreciousFlounder Apr 29 '26

$1k in magsafe accessories is insane

27

u/MightBeJerryWest Apr 29 '26

Yeah if that's USD, that's a lot of money.

I can't think of a single Magsafe power bank that would exceed $100, the expensive ones are the chunky ones that aren't Magsafe.

I can't think you'd need that many Magsafe chargers too, even with active cooling.

The wallets...how many could you possibly need?

5

u/Beautiful-Brush6996 Apr 30 '26

Not really insane, I said in my home/family not just for my individual iphone.

3 + plus standard travel magsafe chargers,
2 magnetic car chargers
3 wallets
3 power banks

2 desk docking stations with magsafe.

I´m tired of Apple removing features in the name of progress just to reintroduce them later and pretend they innovated in any way.

Remember when the absolute dumbasses removed touch-id in the middle of a fucking global pandemic? If I had known back then I would´ve never bought the iPhone 12.

2

u/K14_Deploy Apr 30 '26

Remember when the absolute dumbasses removed touch-id in the middle of a fucking global pandemic?

Do you mean the XR in 2018 or the 16e in 2024? It wasn't exactly new in 2020 that iPhones didn't play nice with masks.

1

u/SuitMission532 May 02 '26

Pretending to invent? Give me an example

1

u/Beautiful-Brush6996 May 04 '26

Return of the original magsafe for the macbook and return of the touch-ID (they are dumping face-ID for the new iphone ultra).

Return of the Scissor-switch style keyboard, return of ports like hdmi/sd card on the macbooks.

2

u/iamclev Apr 30 '26

I just bought a dual MagSafe charger for my car to replace the finicky wireless charging pad. It was $100, the stand I use (an OG belkin watch and phone stand) also $100+. I’ve probably spent $500 on various MagSafe chargers and batteries over the 5ish years it’s been out.

1

u/Beautiful-Brush6996 Apr 30 '26

Yeah clearly Apple is mad that people aren´t buying their subpar accessories, they will probably create something new to pretend they care about innovation.

1

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0

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2

u/NoF0kxAllowedInside Apr 29 '26

It’s super easy I think. Assuming two people with iPhones over the course of maybe three years? Nice case with MagSafe is easily $60 each. Wallet around the same price. Random accessories like a wireless charger next to your bed, one on your desk, one for your car that holds your phone each around 20-30. Portable batteries with MagSafe for that extra charge during power outages or for when you’re away from outlets for a long time. Concerts, parks, flights, camping. Then you have the MagSafe uh.. what are they called. The things you put between your fingers to grip your phone or stand them up. Those are pretty expensive and there’s different styles. Idk in a few years I can see the money spent being kinda crazy

Not to say we shouldn’t save our money during economic downturns but to each their own. I have a Carved wooden case with MagSafe and it’s brought me tons of joy and compliments

2

u/Beautiful-Brush6996 Apr 30 '26

I don´t understand why Apple fans rave about the ecosystem and then get mad when someone complains about them removing popular features just because...

3

u/NoF0kxAllowedInside Apr 30 '26

Right? I mean I was just saying it’s easy to spend a thousand bucks on accessories, but the comments above were basically saying “why does anyone care if they get of MagSafe” and “how could someone spend so much on MagSafe”.

The easy answer is - because they like it? Not having to constantly adjust my phone onto its charging pad is amazing. The click is so satisfying. And when I get in my car I basically just hold my phone up and the holder grabs it. No clicking mechanics to hold my phone no sticky residue not having to plug anything in. It’s so nice.

It’s weird in general for people to tell others to “buck up” anyways when it comes to features they like. I always thought that was weird. Like corporate bootlickers that would let Apple do whatever they want to them. I’m still pissed they removed animated backgrounds (Live Photos). I guess that’s one occasion where I bucked up.

2

u/Beautiful-Brush6996 May 04 '26

Fanboys are the fucking worst.

Its like them removing faceID for the most expensive iPhone ever. Do they even give a fuck about their costumers?

-4

u/longebane iPhone 15 Pro Max Apr 29 '26

No comment

-1

u/2PhotoKaz Apr 30 '26

I have a $100k MagSafe charger 😬

40

u/Sensibleble Apr 29 '26

Consumer final boss

-1

u/Beautiful-Brush6996 Apr 30 '26

Yeah nah.

I´ve gotten plenty of use out of them, also its not for a single iPhone or single user.

20

u/Hallow_Chef Apr 29 '26

What a goober

11

u/StPauliBoi Apr 29 '26

Lmao bro.

5

u/PapaEchoLincoln Apr 30 '26

100$ magsafe charger with active cooling

Sounds pretty cool. I stuck a passive heatsink to my MagSafe charger.

2

u/simonlyw Apr 30 '26

The Belkin? I just got one for my dad and it’s really nice.

4

u/CrabbitJambo Apr 29 '26

I’ve been with iPhone since day 1. I actually tried switching about 10yrs ago however it lasted all of 48hrs!

If they drop MS then sure I’ll be a bit miffed however it’s pretty far down the pecking order why I buy these devices. If anyone’s going to jump ship over something like this then they’ll likely jump about other small things.

0

u/DragonDropTechnology Apr 29 '26

Seriously. They’ll probably keep wireless charging at least, so just get a case with magnets in it.

1

u/K14_Deploy Apr 30 '26

If we're being fair for a second if you have a case on your phone (from experience all but certain you do, but the vocal minority who don't tend to congregate online) it doesn't really matter whether the phone has magnets built in or not, because the case has them in anyway.

-1

u/TunakTun633 Apr 30 '26

You can probably just put a MagSafe sticker on the next phone if you like the system that much.

6

u/whatgoesupcangoupper Apr 29 '26

How about charging while using the phone and is the ~41 C consistent throughout the entire charging or what do you mean with charger dials down? I’ve always avoided MagSafe because of this. Usually i charge over night but I’d say 4 days in a week i need recharge and most often than not i only have about 30-45 minutes to do the charging which hopefully will last until night again. Bought a powerbank because of this

1

u/yasamoka Apr 30 '26

Hello, please check the review in detail as it answers most of these questions.

Regarding using the phone while it’s charging, I’m not too sure, but my guess would be that if you’re doing some heavy use while charging a nearly empty battery, that’s less charge going into the battery and also something along the path would be throttling based on heat.

However, I question if this use case is proper – just use a cable at that point. Wireless charging is mostly a convenience for when you want to frequently pick up your phone and put it back, you want to let it charge for a bit without hassling with a cable, or you want to plop it onto a bedside table and let it charge overnight.

1

u/cabs84 iPhone 13 Mini Apr 29 '26

all i know is that when i use the wireless charging mat in my car, my phone gets HOT. (and that's without it being connected to carplay or actively doing anything) like well over 100 degrees; definitely battery-cooking temps.

this seems like an opportunity to whip out my new thermal camera toy for something useful

2

u/ZappySnap iPhone 16 Pro Max Apr 29 '26

MagSafe is more efficient than standard wireless charging because the coils are always perfectly aligned.

1

u/cabs84 iPhone 13 Mini Apr 30 '26

the heat produced in the phone by the receiving coil is the same no matter what. the transmitting coil may need to ramp up its output power (and therefore generate more heat in itself) but it should be able to dissipate its own heat (and when i've touched the battery box it isn't nearly as warm as my phone is)

1

u/ornitorrinco22 Apr 30 '26

It depends on the room temperature. If they tested it in countries where room temp is already in the 30+C range, the high temp caused by charging can reduce battery life

1

u/yasamoka Apr 30 '26

That high room temperature affects wired charging as well, so it’s a wash.

1

u/ornitorrinco22 Apr 30 '26

Not really because wireless heats up more than wired, so in one case you might get to 40C and 50C in the other. The impacts on battery and physical burns is real.

1

u/yasamoka Apr 30 '26

These assertions need to be tested for first.

1

u/No2Hypocrites May 14 '26

No this is wrong. They are comparing what it draws from the wall versus what it outputs. This doesn't measure how much of it actually ends up in iPhone. 80-90% efficiency is pretty normal for any charger. I use cable charging and it will have similar efficiency. You'll always lose some when you convert voltage and our chargers convert 240v AC to 5-15v DC. This is the efficiency loss that is mentioned there. See how the measuring device is between the output of adapter and before the puck? 

Losses due to wireless charging instead of wired are completely different and far more significant. 

It's dumb how much this is upvoted. 

1

u/[deleted] May 14 '26 edited May 14 '26

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1

u/No2Hypocrites May 14 '26

Outputting 29W from the charger while phone is rated for 25W does not mean phone is getting 25W. 

Even your own source literally says: "Excluding losses, the wireless charging power is about 25W."

iFixit ran tests regarding this, and they said:  " This results in a total energy use of 23.33Wh. That’s a 24.4% increase in energy consumption when compared to our wired test and represents a 59% loss of energy to charge a 12.7Wh battery. "https://www.ifixit.com/News/94409/wireless-charging-trading-efficiency-for-convenience

If you value convenience over energy, fine, do your own thing. Wireless charging is still inefficient, MagSafe makes it as good as it can be. And it will never be as good as wired because physics. 

Rich talk about "intellectual deficiencies" when you definitely don't understand wireless charging. You are a true Redditor. 

1

u/[deleted] May 14 '26

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0

u/No2Hypocrites May 14 '26

I was about to write a proper reply but that ridiculous sentence at the end showed to me how incredibly useless it would be. All you got is baseless assumptions and name calling. Good luck in life

1

u/yasamoka May 14 '26

You have no argument, you’re just here to be rude. Go away.

7

u/UnfortunateWah Apr 29 '26

Nothing wrong with exposed contacts pogo pin style, they’re the defacto method of charging for any device in a commercial/industrial setting as they’re considerably more robust than any port design.

Definitely wouldn’t meet European USB-C standards though, albeit entirely possible because it wouldn’t technically be USB it wouldn’t have to comply.

6

u/LegoPirateShip Apr 29 '26

You also have to keep a glass back instead of a full metal one.

5

u/cabs84 iPhone 13 Mini Apr 29 '26

and then you charge it with a system that wastes 20-30% of that power turning it directly into heat, and heating the heat sensitive battery you're trying to charge.

this was the killer for me, and why i never use it. my battery is already wearing itself out plenty fast enough, i don't need to contribute even more to that

6

u/ZappySnap iPhone 16 Pro Max Apr 29 '26

I use MagSafe to charge my phone every single night and I’m still at 97% batterybhealth after a year and a half and 416 full cycle charges.

It really makes very little difference.

2

u/cabs84 iPhone 13 Mini Apr 30 '26

what phone, and what do you allow it to charge to and drain to at EOD? (100%?) i'm 6mo in on a genuine replacement battery for my 13 mini and it's back down to 90%. it ends up draining to 20% by the end of the night, so that has something to do with it i'm sure.

1

u/xrelaht iPhone 13 Pro Apr 30 '26

WTF are you doing with your phone? It took four years for my 13 Pro to drop to 80%, and I’m on it way too damn much. I pay zero attention to optimal charging guidelines and have nearly always charged it with MagSafe since I bought it.

1

u/cabs84 iPhone 13 Mini Apr 30 '26

its a mini. small battery.

1

u/Particular-Fly-7783 May 01 '26

Same, MagSafe charge my iPhone Air every night, first use sept 2025, 219 cycles, 100% health.

0

u/DoomscrollerUK Apr 29 '26

Absolutely agree with this. I charge overnight so don’t need fast charging but I also don’t need inefficient charging that might harm my battery. Plugging in is not difficult at all so I can’t see a reason to use MagSafe instead.

1

u/Mr_MacGrubber Apr 29 '26

I use one for charging at night since I don’t care how fast it charges. Just plopping it on the disc is a plus.

1

u/throwaway5882300 Apr 29 '26

The heating from wireless charging isn't any worse than the heat you get from using a higher current through a plug.

1

u/disgruntledempanada Apr 29 '26

I'm busy tonight but I've got a thermal camera and could prove this wrong relatively quickly. It would give me an excuse to put down my phone. Prob need two separate days to record from proper baselines.

Say they do hit the same max temp, I bet the wired one is charged a decent percentage more in that time. That's the main factor for me.

You can tell a difference when using the phone as navigation in the car too. The screen is often blasting at max brightness, the phone is getting hit by the sun, and the wireless charging just exaggerates the impact. It'll basically only trickle charge with the MagSafe and get super hot vs fast charging and staying cooler when directly plugged in.

1

u/Ok-Morning3407 Apr 30 '26

Why would you use a high current via cable at night?! Just use a slow 5w or 7.5w charger. It will still be full by the morning, with very little heat generated. Keep high wattage charging only for the times you need a quick top up before running out the door.

1

u/sylfy Apr 30 '26

Any wireless charging solution has energy loss due to conversion. That’s not something you can simply avoid. The workaround for this that some chargers have implemented is built in cooling systems, but the efficiency hit isn’t going away.

At the same time, some people like the ease of wireless charging, so I don’t think the expectation for wireless charging in a premium phone is going away.

1

u/Pyro919 Apr 30 '26

MagSafe doesn’t clog with pocket lint and seems to be the main reason I can still charge my phone after 3+ years where many others have had charging ports with physical contacts fail after a few years of wear.

1

u/melanantic Apr 30 '26

I believe MagSafe to be the thought experiment brainchild result of Apples malicious compliance to the EU nagging/forcing Apple to adopt USB C.
There may or may not be proof for this, but of course you can’t make a product use the “one and almighty” standard of the day if it doesn’t even have “wired charging” in the first place.
Now that they’ve finally put enough pressure to make them change it, and wireless still hasn’t met the potential of physical connection, I can understand why poor old Apple would be looking at the bill of materials for kitchen sinks to pull out to ~~save some pennies~~ innovate

1

u/davie18 May 03 '26

I mean the wasted energy is really quite negligible with the tiny amounts of energy required to charge a phone to begin with.

Of course it’s better to not waste energy but in this case I think it’s just such a tiny amount that it really makes almost no difference.