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You CANNOT ditch lightning and ONLY use MagSafe on iPhone

Tyler O'Bannon

Tyler O'Bannon

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 23, 2019
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So, this morning I had an epiphany about the MagSafe Battery Pack. MagSafe for iPhone is a modular ecosystem that allows for charging and accessories without lightning.

BUT

You CANNOT ditch lightning to use the MagSafe Battery Pack. Why? Because the only way to charge this MagSafe accessory is.... Lightning.

You can charge the phone with a MagSafe Charger.

You can charge the phone with the MagSafe Battery Pack.

But, you cannot charge the MagSafe Battery Pack with a MagSafe Charger.

It can only be charge in 2 ways, and both require Lightning.

You can charge your iPhone via Lightning, and it will use reverse charging to charge the MagSafe Battery Pack after the phone reaches 80% battery.

Or, you can plug the MagSafe Battery Pack into lightning attached or unattached to your iPhone and it will charge.

But you cannot do it solely with MagSafe Charging.

Therefore, you cannot ditch lightning altogether in order to use MagSafe.

For an entirely new ecosystem of charging, it's interesting that you are bound to the old way of charging in order to use the new one.

Is this a big deal to me: no.

But from an innovation standpoint it's interesting to point out and discuss.
 
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Tyler O'Bannon said:
So, this morning I had an epiphany about the MagSafe Battery Pack. MagSafe for iPhone is a modular ecosystem that allows for charging and accessories without lightning.

BUT

You CANNOT ditch lightning to use the MagSafe Battery Pack. Why? Because the only way to charge this MagSafe accessory is.... Lightning.

You can charge the phone with a MagSafe Charger.

You can charge the phone with the MagSafe Battery Pack.

But, you cannot charge the MagSafe Battery Pack with a MagSafe Charger.

It can only be charge in 2 ways, and both require Lightning.

You can charge your iPhone via Lightning, and it will use reverse charging to charge the MagSafe Battery Pack after the phone reaches 80% battery.

Or, you can plug the MagSafe Battery Pack into lightning attached or unattached to your iPhone and it will charge.

But you cannot do it solely with MagSafe Charging.

Therefore, you cannot ditch lightning altogether in order to use MagSafe.

For an entirely new ecosystem of charging, it's interesting that you are bound to the old way of charging in order to use the new one.

Is this a big deal to me: no.

But from an innovation standpoint it's interesting to point out and discuss.
Click to expand...

From an ecosystem standpoint Apple is doing a great job clutching onto the lightning connector. The new Apple TV remote still used lightning, not MagSafe, to charge.

The newest iPads still use USB-C, not lightning or MagSafe to charge which makes the ecosystem more fragmented but I do agree with the USB-C route because my work laptop and my Sonos Move use the same charger and now I only have to take one charger on my business trips.

I would like to see a battery expert chime in on whether batteries in their current state are designed to handle wireless charging or if that is the only way you charge your phone are you wearing it out faster?

One reason I say this is because whenever I use my MagSafe charger the back of my phone feels warmer than when I charge using lightning. I understand it takes more effort to conduct the electricity without a wire but what I don’t know is whether I am wearing my battery out faster by charging it that way.

I am not too attached to wireless charging anyway, it’s a nice to have but the lightning cable is easy to plug in and I am always gentle with my cords and they last a long time.
 
IMO, the writing on the wall seems to be that lighting will continue on with accessories (magic keyboard, magic mouse, magic trackpad, ATV remote, etc.).

Not sure where AirPods are going. They are an accessory, but makes sense they would also match the iPhone. If iPhone goes USB-C, so would those accessories.

And USB-C be iPhone, iPads, and Macs.

However, right now it's not really going that direction. Apple is definitely holding on to Lightning for iPhone and MagSafe Battery Pack, and all accessories too.

I think the Beats Studio Buds are an exception with USB-C only because of the Beats branding and higher than normal Android support.

It will be interesting to see if iPhone and AirPod type accessories move to USB-C in the next couple of years. And I honestly don't know what to expect. I could very well see 2 iPhones from now still being Lightning and MagSafe.

We shall see.
 
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djrobsd said:
From an ecosystem standpoint Apple is doing a great job clutching onto the lightning connector. The new Apple TV remote still used lightning, not MagSafe, to charge.

The newest iPads still use USB-C, not lightning or MagSafe to charge which makes the ecosystem more fragmented but I do agree with the USB-C route because my work laptop and my Sonos Move use the same charger and now I only have to take one charger on my business trips.

I would like to see a battery expert chime in on whether batteries in their current state are designed to handle wireless charging or if that is the only way you charge your phone are you wearing it out faster?

One reason I say this is because whenever I use my MagSafe charger the back of my phone feels warmer than when I charge using lightning. I understand it takes more effort to conduct the electricity without a wire but what I don’t know is whether I am wearing my battery out faster by charging it that way.

I am not too attached to wireless charging anyway, it’s a nice to have but the lightning cable is easy to plug in and I am always gentle with my cords and they last a long time.
Click to expand...
I’ve never seen such a decline in a phone’s battery health as I’ve seen with this iPhone 12 Pro. The only difference being that I have a MagSafe charger in my car.
 
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Tyler O'Bannon said:
So, this morning I had an epiphany about the MagSafe Battery Pack. MagSafe for iPhone is a modular ecosystem that allows for charging and accessories without lightning.

BUT

You CANNOT ditch lightning to use the MagSafe Battery Pack. Why? Because the only way to charge this MagSafe accessory is.... Lightning.

You can charge the phone with a MagSafe Charger.

You can charge the phone with the MagSafe Battery Pack.

But, you cannot charge the MagSafe Battery Pack with a MagSafe Charger.

It can only be charge in 2 ways, and both require Lightning.

You can charge your iPhone via Lightning, and it will use reverse charging to charge the MagSafe Battery Pack after the phone reaches 80% battery.

Or, you can plug the MagSafe Battery Pack into lightning attached or unattached to your iPhone and it will charge.

But you cannot do it solely with MagSafe Charging.

Therefore, you cannot ditch lightning altogether in order to use MagSafe.

For an entirely new ecosystem of charging, it's interesting that you are bound to the old way of charging in order to use the new one.

Is this a big deal to me: no.

But from an innovation standpoint it's interesting to point out and discuss.
Click to expand...
I doubt Apple is even thinking that far. They just want some easy money grab, charging $100 for a battery pack that cannot even fully charge the mini. They probably just think hey, let's put magsafe on a powerbank, and go from there. I doubt they even thought your point.
 
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ian87w said:
I doubt Apple is even thinking that far. They just want some easy money grab, charging $100 for a battery pack that cannot even fully charge the mini. They probably just think hey, let's put magsafe on a powerbank, and go from there. I doubt they even thought your point.
Click to expand...
Right. Trillion-dollar tech behemoth just winging it. 😆
 
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Tyler O'Bannon said:
So, this morning I had an epiphany about the MagSafe Battery Pack. MagSafe for iPhone is a modular ecosystem that allows for charging and accessories without lightning.

BUT

You CANNOT ditch lightning to use the MagSafe Battery Pack. Why? Because the only way to charge this MagSafe accessory is.... Lightning.

You can charge the phone with a MagSafe Charger.

You can charge the phone with the MagSafe Battery Pack.

But, you cannot charge the MagSafe Battery Pack with a MagSafe Charger.

It can only be charge in 2 ways, and both require Lightning.

You can charge your iPhone via Lightning, and it will use reverse charging to charge the MagSafe Battery Pack after the phone reaches 80% battery.

Or, you can plug the MagSafe Battery Pack into lightning attached or unattached to your iPhone and it will charge.

But you cannot do it solely with MagSafe Charging.

Therefore, you cannot ditch lightning altogether in order to use MagSafe.

For an entirely new ecosystem of charging, it's interesting that you are bound to the old way of charging in order to use the new one.

Is this a big deal to me: no.

But from an innovation standpoint it's interesting to point out and discuss.
Click to expand...
I think a lot of this negated if you treat/think of the MagSafe Battery as a portable, bulkier version of a standard MagSafe charging plate. You have the standard plate plugged in all the time anyway, so just replace it with a Battery and the USB C cable for a Lightning-USBC cable and you have basically the same thing, but with the added ability that it's completely detachable and portable for on the fly use.
 
Literally asked about this in a post yesterday with no answers.
However, what is in the way of charging a power bank with the MagSafe? If it can be fitted onto an iPhone, surely it must fit on a battery.
 
Since having MagSafe duo and three other MagSafe chargers I have not plugged in a lightning cable since.
I can see ditching the port

mounted one in my trucks armrest with a wireless CarPlay module. No use for a lightning port for me.
 
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