Highly anticipated: Are you loving your fancy new iPhone 12 but struggling to keep it juiced up while out and about? If so, Apple's got some good news for you. Starting today, you can snag a MagSafe Battery Pack for $99. As the name implies, it's a magnetic battery that attaches to the back of your phone for "safe and reliable" wireless charging no matter where you are.
To be clear, the MagSafe Battery Pack is not the same thing as Apple's dedicated, plug-powered MagSafe Charger. That product is less than half the price (at $39) and is designed to sit on your desk or some other static surface.
The Battery Pack, on the other hand, is primarily meant for on-the-go battery top-ups. You can technically keep it plugged in and sitting on your desk for a similar effect to the ordinary MagSafe device, but that's probably not the ideal way to use it.
The MagSafe Battery Pack only has one 1,460mAh capacity option, so it won't be quite enough to fully juice up your iPhone 12 while out on the town, and it'll charge slowly at just 5W when used without an adapter. If you wish to connect it to a wall adapter, charging speeds will increase, but you'll have to buy one separately – and Apple does recommend you do so.
Currently, an Apple-branded 20W USB-C power adapter costs $20 on the company's website. Naturally, the USB-C cable itself isn't included in that package, so you'll need to shell out another $20 if you want an official version of that. All in all, if you prefer to go with only official Apple products, you're likely going to spend around $140 on the MagSafe Battery Pack and its "recommended" accessories, assuming you don't already have the latter at home.
That's not to say the device isn't worth the money, of course. That's for you to decide. One thing is certain, though: Apple fans have been clamoring for a portable cable-free phone charging solution ever since the MagSafe product line was revived last year. And of course, the classic "Apple" fit-and-finish is present here: the all-white design of the Battery Pack is attractive and likely to pair well with a variety of differently-colored iPhone 12s (and their cases).