Quick review
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Focused on iPhone owners living with a new Apple Watch and wireless earphones, the Belkin Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 with MagSafe 15W is an easy win if you love your iPhone and Watch.
What’s new with the 2022 Belkin Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1?
Another of the many chargers you can buy, Belkin’s Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 with MagSafe 15W is a variation on a theme you’ve probably seen time and time again.
If you have a recent phone with wireless charging, and if you have a recent pair of truly wireless earphones with Qi wireless charging, and if you also happen to have an Apple Watch, too, you can get gadgets that charge all three.
Typically, combo charging stands only cover Apple’s wearables, and the 2022 edition of the Belkin 3-in-1 Boost Charge Pro is no different, catering to Apple owners with an iPhone, Apple Watch, and ideally a pair of wirelessly charged AirPods, but frankly they could charge any wirelessly charged earphones, be it Apple’s own or something else.
What does it do?
It probably won’t surprise you, but the Belkin Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 is designed to charge three gadgets, covering the iPhone, Apple Watch, and then any other wireless gadget on the pad below.
This is not majorly different to the older model of Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 we checked out last year, which looks the same, though there’s one difference you can’t see: the charging pad on the Apple Watch side of things supports 15 watts, too, ideal for fast charging the Series 7 Apple Watch and beyond.
It will still charge older Apple Watch generations, but owners of the Series 7 and higher should see faster charging.
The arms of the stand are still made from stainless steel giving it a premium look, and the stand is weighted to help it sit well on a desk or bedside stand. Plus it comes with a 40 watt power pack, which is distinct from at least one other MagSafe charging stand we’ve reviewed.
Belkin notes that its standard wireless charging pad built into the stand is built for the AirPods and AirPods Pro, with a shape etched out for those earphones, but we found it works with a variety of others, too, complete with a small light to let you know the wireless charging has kicked on.
Ultimately, we found the Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 worked with an iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 model, an Apple Watch, and any pair of wireless in-ears with a wirelessly charged case, which covers quite a few gadgets.
Does it do the job?
The good news is Belkin’s charger works as expected, allowing you to snap on an iPhone 12 and higher, covering mini, regular, pro, and max models, whether it’s an iPhone 12 Mini or iPhone 13 Pro Max. Clearly, the use of the MagSafe ring in its design means it needs a MagSafe phone, so if you have an Android or an older iPhone, this stand is not for you.
You can charge any wirelessly charged (Qi) phone on it, but the connection is much slower because you’re forced to use the smaller pad made for earphones at the bottom.
Through our testing, we found we could charge both a Google Pixel 6 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 on the charge pad, while the small pad size was perfect for the compact design of the Galaxy Z Flip 5G, too. The lower charging speed was not, but it still worked.
Charging up the Apple Watch Series 7 is suitably fast, thanks in part to the Apple Watch Series 7 supporting fast charging when plugged into a charger with a powerful brick, so that’s nice, and practically the only new thing in this version.
Interestingly, the charging pad design for the earphones is unsurprisingly very well suited to Apple’s AirPods and AirPods Pro, but it doesn’t always play nicely with every pair of wirelessly charged earphones.
We ran quite a few on the pad, and found Sony’s WF-1000XM4 earphones worked, as did our pre-production unit of the upcoming NuraTrue Pro. A pair we’re reviewing right now, the Google Pixel Buds Pro also worked to charge on the Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1, but the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3 did not, with the orange light on the Belkin stand telling us that something was wrong.
In short, Belkin’s 3-in-1 stand will do the job if you have the right gadgets. Provided you have a recent iPhone, Apple Watch, and supported wirelessly charged earphones, it will definitely do the job for you.
What does it need?
With three devices catered for and the modern iPhone user more or less sorted, there’s very little the Belkin 3-in-1 Boost Charge Pro needs.
Unlike the Twelve South edition of the same concept, Belkin’s model comes with the power pack and is designed to let you see the night stand mode of the Apple Watch. The secondary wireless charging pad supporting earphones at the bottom works with any pair of wirelessly charged earphones, not just the AirPods or AirPods Pro, so that’s handy, too.
Like its predecessor, about the only thing missing in action is an extra USB port at the back, which would be useful if you needed to charge a gadget this charger didn’t handle. That could be a watch or wearable that isn’t an Apple Watch, though credit to Belkin, it already makes something that skips out on the Apple Watch, and that might be the ideal accessory.
Given what’s included and supported in this model, we don’t think the omission of a USB port is that big of a deal.
Is it worth your money?
Surprisingly, one of the things we loved about the new Belkin Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 is how it sounds when you snap an iPhone to the MagSafe mount. Or more specifically how it doesn’t sound.
When you use the standard Apple MagSafe pad, the snap is a sound. It’s a clack and the pad is locked in place. With the Belkin edition, the sound is more like a subtle thud, which is so minor and irrelevant it won’t wake you up in the middle of the night, which the Apple one can.
Covering three devices and doing it without a whole lot of noise, fast charging the Apple Watch, not to mention delivering the right amount of power for MagSafe wireless charging helps to make this iPhone charger worth the price. In Australia, the recommended retail price of $219.95 is acceptable enough, but the street price of $175 for the Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 makes it more than worth it, too.
It’s a decent upgrade on the previous Boost Charge Pro we liked, and if you rely on a recent iPhone, Apple Watch, and a pair of wirelessly charged earphones, it’ll definitely be worth it for you.
Yay or nay?
We like the Belkin Boost Charge Pro 3-in-1 quite a bit, and consider it the stand to consider if you check off the Apple ecosystem boxes. If you have a recent iPhone and Apple Watch, and a pair of AirPods, this stand makes sense. It’s for Apple people, and that’s A-OK. Recommended.
