A Hypothetical Apple Beats MagSafe Power Pack
Michael Burkhardt
There's a funny thing that happens when people find out that I'm somewhat savvy and knowledgeable about Apple products, they don't ask me about the Vision Pro or Apple's AI situation, they often do ask me about the iPhone, but quite often, it's a tangential product. One Apple no longer makes: the MagSafe battery pack.
Apple’s MagSafe battery pack lived a short life. It was introduced in July 2021, nearly a year after the introduction of the iPhone 12 with MagSafe. It was available for $99, and had a number of unique Apple integrations, including the ability to be reverse wirelessly charged off your iPhone while its plugged in. The pack also kept its charge status up to date in the home screen battery widget, something that most can’t.
I'm not kidding, people seemed to love this external battery pack and they simply can't believe that Apple no longer sells it. It was so simple: no cables, no buttons. Nothing to do beside slap it on the back of your phone to charge it (assuming you had an early MagSafe compatible iPhone, of course). Sure, it was too expensive for what it was – this is Apple, after all – but if the company told you that you could double the battery life of your iPhone for $99, you'd take it every time.1 And many people did, it seems! Until Apple stopped allowing them to.
That decision – executed 18 months ago – was undoubtedly tied to the transition from Apple's proprietary Lightning port to the USB-C standard which Europe forced upon them.2 While Apple has been slowly but surely moving all their products to USB-C, a few of them were clearly casualties of the move. But again, anecdotally at least, people seem to love the MagSafe battery pack. And while yes, there are third-party options for this, it's weird that Apple would just leave this accessory money on the table. Some people just prefer to buy this product from Apple, perhaps at the same time they're buying their iPhone, with the peace of mind that it will work or simplicity or whatever.
But there's hope:
Clearly, Apple is warming up to the idea of positioning Beats as an accessory company, particularly with accessories that it wouldn’t want to launch themselves. For example, a USB-A to USB-C charging cable.
While there’s nothing to base this on, a Beats MagSafe battery bank seems like a no brainer. It’d come in lots of fun colors, I’m sure. It’d also probably come in at a slightly lower starting price than Apple’s original $99.
I love this notion and think there's something to it. Just yesterday, Apple launched some new USB cables under the Beats brand.3 While Apple has clearly been working with third parties for a while to make some of the accessories they don't wish to make for various reasons (such as the superior Vision Pro head strap), they could bring this in-house via Beats. Sure, the MagSafe battery pack may have nothing directly to do with music, which was Beats original mandate, including after Apple acquired them. But neither do phone cases. Or USB cables. They're tangential at best. But this sub-brand also gives Apple more leeway to experiment and have fun with things like bright colors. Also, (slightly) better price points!4
Anyway, I hope Apple does this with Beats, as my wife has lost two of these MagSafe chargers already and they're getting hard to find, even second-hand.5
1 Yes, for larger (and newer) models of the iPhone, you get far less than double the charge out of this thing. Another reason Apple needs to update it for 2025!
2 While I continue to think it was ridiculous that Europe to regulate this, I do appreciate the ability to charge most of my devices from the same cable. Of course, not all of them. I still have a few Lightning port devices here and there. And don't get me started on the Apple Watch charging situation...
3 They even made a fun little video to showcase the new cables!
4 They also are seemingly fine doing things around "legacy" tech, as their new Beats USB cables include USB-A options!
5 And yes, she really wants the Apple one for whatever reason. Yes, even though I carry one which is better (and cheaper) from Anker.