Last year during the launch of the iPhone 12, Belkin said MagSafe accessories were coming. Now, they’re finally here.
The revival of Apple’s MagSafe brand last year with the iPhone 12 was certainly something, but it hasn’t really resulted in a whole lot of accessories as such.
The new concept for MagSafe revives a name once used for Apple’s magnetic power plug on its laptops, but applies it to phones, lining a circular ring of magnets in the back of an iPhone and making it possible not just to hold accessories to the iPhone, but also to hold an iPhone to specific peripherals, such as a wireless charger.
In fact, when a MagSafe wireless charger is used with an iPhone, it tends to hold an iPhone at the right place for a wireless charger to deliver its best performance, which is largely the idea.
It’s also why if you don a case on an iPhone 12 and expect the MagSafe to work just as well, you might be in for a bit of a surprise: as we found out in our tests, the only iPhone cases that worked well with MagSafe were ones that were advertised as being MagSafe-compatible by Apple, and included some magnetic rings to reinforce that connection. MagSafe doesn’t work on iPhones before the iPhone 12, and MagSafe won’t hold Android phones in place to charge them, either.
And there weren’t many MagSafe accessories for the past few months, either.
But for the past six months, MagSafe accessories have largely been few and far between. Belkin was one of the first to say it would support the technology, announcing a few products not far from the iPhone 12 announcement, and also had something at CES to talk about.
Now, we’re finally seeing them launch locally.
Australia is this week seeing the Belkin MagSafe line, which consists of three devices, two of which charge, while the other just holds a phone in place.
Compatible with the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max, Belkin will have a 2-in-1 wireless charger stand for the iPhone and wirelessly charged earphones — the Boost Charge Pro 2-in-1 — and one made for phone, wirelessly charged earphones, and the Apple Watch, arriving in the Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1. Each supports an iPhone with MagSafe — that’s any iPhone model from the iPhone 12 onwards — plus an accessory.
Both models sport support for wireless earphones, which could be the Apple AirPods or AirPods Pro, but could also likely be any other wirelessly charged earphone case, as the AirPods wireless charge case is charged by the Qi standard, the same technology used on pretty much every wireless charger except the Apple Watch.
In the 3-in-1 Boost Charge Pro model, the Belkin MagSafe charging stand also includes a charger for the Apple Watch, too, making it a bit of a replacement for the previous Belkin Boost charging stand.
Each will also hold a MagSafe iPhone in place, making them less than ideal for older iPhones without it, as there’ll be nothing to hold them in place.
That’s also the point of Belkin’s MagSafe Car Vent Mount Pro, which won’t charge the iPhone it connects to, but will hold an iPhone in place at an air conditioning vent.
All three are coming to stores across Australia shortly, with the MagSafe Car Vent Mount Pro being the least expensive at $59.95, while the Belkin Boost Charge Pro 2-in-1 will cost $149.95, and the 3-in-1 Charge Pro with support for the Apple Watch a little more at $219.95.
