If you find your iPhone 12 needs a little boost to get through the day, Apple now has an accessory that can keep your phone powered up. The new MagSafe Battery Pack works with any iPhone 12 model, attaching to the back of the phones via magnets to give a wireless boost to your handset.
As you can guess by the name, the $99 Apple MagSafe Battery Pack uses the MagSafe technology Apple introduced to its phone lineup with last fall's iPhone 12 releases. And it addresses one of the few weaknesses with Apple's iPhone lineup.
- The best iPhones right now
- Best iPhone 12 accessories
- Plus: iPhone 13 vs. iPhone 13 Pro — what differences to expect
Apple's latest phones have many strengths, but battery life is not chief among them. Apart from the iPhone 12 Pro Max, which fell just shy of landing on our best phone battery life list, the other three iPhone 12 models turned in results that were below the average for smartphones in our Tom's Guide battery test.
Apple doesn't say by how much the MagSafe Battery Pack can extend the life of your iPhone 12 battery — we're guessing it varies from model to model. But the MagSafe Battery Pack page on Apple's online store does note that you can plug a Lightning cable into the accessory to get 15W charging speeds. The Battery Pack also supports 20W should you use that kind of adapter for faster charging.
Unfortunately, neither a 20W adapter or 15W Lightning cable come with the MagSafe Battery Pack. So you'll either have to supply your own or buy those separately.
It's also unclear how much bulk the MagSafe Battery Pack adds to your phone. Apple doesn't list dimensions or weight on the product page. Presumably, the MagSafe magnets keep the battery securely in place, but you'd have to assume any pocket containing both an iPhone 12 model and a battery pack is going to be a tight fit.
The iPhone 13 will reportedly improve things, with rumors suggesting that Apple is opting for bigger iPhone 13 batteries in the new iPhones scheduled to come out this fall. But that's of little consolation to iPhone 12 buyers who find themselves looking to top off their battery during the day. The new MagSafe Battery Pack could help address that dilemma.
Apple is taking pre-orders now for the MagSafe Battery Pack. The accessory ships next week.
