One of the more interesting features of the new iPhone 12 lineup is the return of the MagSafe power connector. It doesn’t only make wireless charging easier, as Apple demonstrated with a $89 wallet, it can also expand the usefulness of the device that’s always in your pocket. But MagSafe has even more potential than just credit card storage, as third-party accessory makers are demonstrating.
MagSafe was first introduced by Apple years ago on its laptops, tethering the power cable to the computer using a magnetic connector that would easily detach under force so that tripping over your machine’s power cable didn’t send your laptop crashing to the floor. It was a simple innovation but genuinely useful, so of course Apple killed it off and switched to USB-C a few years ago. It was assumed that MagSafe was gone forever, but Apple revived it for the iPhone as a hidden ring of magnets on the back of the devices that would help wireless chargers connect and align correctly, but also allow other accessories to be temporarily attached without the need for a clunky case.
In true Apple style, the first non-power-related MagSafe accessory was a $US60 ($80) leather wallet featuring just a single pocket for storing debit cards, credit cards, and ID. It’s a pricy one-trick pony, but if you can live without an embossed Apple logo on the side of your wallet, Moft is now offering a vastly superior alternative for half the price.
Measuring in at just five millimetres thick so you can still easily slip it into a pocket, Moft’s new Snap-on Stand & Wallet for iPhone 12 series can stash away three cards — but that’s not its most impressive trick. The vegan leather (translation: no cows died to keep your credit card warm) wallet unfolds into a smartphone support keeping your iPhone 12 propped up at a 60-degree angle in either portrait or landscape modes. When sideways, it can even keep your device elevated a few inches.
The Moft wallet is also compatible with Apple’s MagSafe Charger, so while your iPhone is wirelessly charging the wallet will snap onto the back of the attached charger and continue to keep your device propped up. In every way it seems like a more useful alternative to Apple’s wallet offering, and hopefully this is just the tip of the iceberg for iPhone 12 accessories (and those for future iPhones, presumably).
I’m eagerly awaiting a MagSafe tripod adaptor so I no longer have to lock my iPhone 12 Pro into a spring-loaded clamp when shooting product videos, and magnetically attached lights could further streamline a vlogger’s setup. Victorinox could release a version of its credit card thin SwissCard multi-tool to turn the iPhone 12 into a pocket knife, and car makers could create ultra-thin key fobs so your smartphone could open and start your vehicle without needing to log into another app. Like the App Store did for the iPhone more than a decade ago, it’s probably not going to be Apple unlocking the unlimited potential of MagSafe.