Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack is right down to a brand new low of $71 | Engadget

Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack is strictly what it says on the tin: a transportable battery that snaps to the again of an iPhone by way of Apple’s MagSafe magnetic charging tech and expenses the handset wirelessly. The battery is a harder promote at full worth, however right now it is available for $71, which marks the bottom worth we have seen thus far. For reference, Apple sometimes sells the system for $99, although its common worth on-line has sat nearer to $90 in current months.

The MagSafe Battery Pack works with any iPhone 12, 13, or 14 mannequin, and utilizing it is so simple as slapping it on the again of a type of units and letting it do its factor. You do not need to press any extra buttons to begin the cost, not like many third-party rivals. Design smart, it is a slim, matte plastic rectangle that is designed to match the size of an iPhone 12 or 13 mini, so it’s going to match fully inside the again of a bigger system just like the iPhone 14 Pro Max. 

Because that is an Apple-made product, it is also capable of combine with an iPhone in methods competing MagSafe batteries can’t. You can see the pack’s cost stage by way of iOS’s Control Center and Batteries widget, for example, and you’ll reverse-charge the battery itself out of your iPhone when the latter is plugged in. By default, the pack will solely cost your cellphone to round 90 p.c to raised protect its effectivity, although you’ll be able to flip that off if you want.

If you have got a 20W or increased charger and a USB-C to Lightning cable, you may as well flip the MagSafe Battery Pack right into a 15W wi-fi charging puck, which supplies it a little bit of utility while you aren’t out of the home. Unfortunately, and maybe expectedly, Apple would not embrace a cable or energy brick within the field, however that is much less of an issue in the event you already personal each of these in your iPhone. (If you do not, our information to the perfect quick chargers could also be of curiosity.) 

When it comes to truly charging your iPhone, the MagSafe Battery Pack is a little more compromised. Part of that’s simply because of the nature of wi-fi charging; the tech has improved over time, however if you’d like the quickest cost doable, a cable with a conventional battery pack will often be faster to high issues off. But the capability of the MagSafe Battery Pack itself is pretty small at 1,460mAh (or 11.13Wh), so it may solely cost a regular iPhone 14 to about 60-65 p.c from zero. 

We’ve advisable Anker’s 622 Magnetic Battery as an excellent various to the MagSafe Battery Pack prior to now; that one has a bigger 5,000mAh (19.25Wh) capability that may get nearer to a 80-85 cost on the identical cellphone. It additionally prices lower than Apple’s pack even with the latter on sale, has a built-in kickstand, and is available in a greater diversity of colours. (The MagSafe Battery Pack is barely out there in white.) It’s not designed as neatly for iPhones and lacks the extras famous above, but it surely’s a greater worth in the event you simply need extra energy from a compact MagSafe pack. Anker’s 633 Magnetic Battery, in the meantime, has an excellent larger capability, albeit in a thicker body.

Still, since their charging skills restricted, MagSafe packs like these are finest regarded as battery extenders, issues can use to refill your cellphone in a pinch, greater than full-on battery packs. For that, the MagSafe Battery Pack is okay, significantly since Apple launched a firmware update earlier this yr that boosted the pack’s charging charge from 5W to 7.5W, which continues to be slower than utilizing a cable however matches the Anker fashions above. If you’ll be able to dwell with the lesser capability and know you will worth a few of its extra iPhone-friendly options, it must be simpler to justify at this deal worth.

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