By: Nick Gambino
The arrival of the iPhone 12 last year saw with it the release of the MagSafe charger and a slew of accessories that leveraged the power of the Qi-capable circle on the back of the phone.
Missing at launch was any sort of wireless battery pack to charge up on the go. That left the market wide open for third party companies to swoop in and release their own wireless charging packs for the new iPhone. Honestly, even if Apple had released an official battery pack, we’d still see other companies getting in on the action.
None of that really matters now because Apple has finally released the official MagSafe Battery Pack compatible with the iPhone 12 mini, Pro, Pro Max and, of course, the regular 12. If you’re rocking an older version of the iPhone, you’re not going to be able to use the pack.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to really jerry-rig it as the MagSafe/Qi charging guts weren’t introduced until the 12 last year. And if you do have a 12, you have to make sure you’re running iOS 14.7 or later. Of course, we’re currently on 14.6, but 14.7 should be released by the time we see the Battery Pack shipped to the first customers.
The MagSafe Battery Pack, which fetches for $99, magnetically attaches to the back of your iPhone 12 and wirelessly charges the phone. You can charge the pack with a lightning cable to USB cable charger to juice it up enough for extra hours of charge. How much? We don’t know yet and might not be clued in until these things ship later this month.
Now, the Battery Pack is wireless, so it won’t deliver the fastest charging experience. It’s really intended for on-the-go use when you need to charge up and can’t get to an outlet or don’t have a charging cable.
Because the MagSafe Battery Pack is an official Apple product designed specifically for the iPhone, you’ll see it show up in the Battery widget on your lock screen.
Apple’s official MagSafe Battery Pack ships as early as July 19. You can order it for $99 now.
