There’s two accessories for my iPhone 12 Pro that leverage the MagSafe magnets in the phone that I’m excited for.
The first is the MagSafe compatible line of products coming soon from PopSockets while the other is Anker’s line of magnetic battery banks. Earlier today I was poking around on reddit to see if there is an Anker subreddit (there is) where I could get a scrap or two of information about the battery banks. When they were announced, they were given a release window of February and there’s only a few days left in the month with crickets on social media about the product.
Luckily, it looks like there has been some information posted to the subreddit by moderator joshuadwx. I don’t know if joshuadwx is a member of the community or an official part of Anker or what, but it does seem like the information is legit.
Here’s the post — now let’s go over some of the information I learned here and some takes I have on it.
Name
So it looks like this product is officially called the PowerCore Magnetic 5000. I don’t remember explicitly seeing that name mentioned in the original release article I saw, but it makes sense that they would keep the branding the same as their other power banks and just highlight the magnetic aspect of them. It’s important to remember that these are not blessed by Apple, which why they didn’t call them the PowerCore MagSafe Edition or something like that.
Information
While some of the bullet points listed didn’t really stand out to me, there were a few that really did. All emphasis in the following quotes is my own, by the way.
Made for iPhone 12: Works flawlessly with iPhone 12, iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12 Pro, and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Charges through compatible magnetic cases.
I know that Anker is planning to release some magnetic cases for the iPhone 12 as well, but I’m assuming that this simply means that it will work with MagSafe cases in general. I have the iPhone 12 Pro official leather case on my phone because I wanted something nice with magnets in it when the accessories I really want come out. Considering this is basically just a Qi charger with a magnet on it, I’m inclined to believe that it will work just fine with Apple’s cases right out of the box. Still, I’ll need to get my hands on one to be certain.
Superior Safety: Anker’s comprehensive MultiProtect safety system includes foreign object detection, short circuit protection, temperature control, and more.
This is a point that you really think wouldn’t stand out in an information post, but it really does. While Anker isn’t having this blessed by Apple to make it a true 15w MagSafe accessory, not all chargers are made equally. I tend to be very discerning about the cables, power bricks, and wireless chargers that I purchase and recommend and Anker is a company that I’ve come to trust very much over the years. If I’m going to be magnetically slapping a battery on the back of my phone, I want it to be from someone I trust.
What You Get: PowerCore Magnetic 5K, USB-C to USB-C cable…
This is another small touch that I’m happy to see. USB-C really is everywhere now and I’m glad to see that Anker is using for this product. I’m really one or two cables and power bricks away from not having to carry a USB-A brick with me anymore so I’m very happy to see that this is yet another product that I can charge over the newer (and arguably superior) standard.
One critique that I did see in the comments section of the post was that you can’t wirelessly charge this power bank but I really don’t think that’s a huge deal. When it comes to battery banks, I much prefer charging them via a wire and power brick that will be able to top them up as fast as is safely possible.
Price and Release
We still don’t have a release date but we do have what I would consider to be better information on when the product is coming. Back when this was announced at CES they said it was coming February. That’s a 28 day window. Now there’s only 6 days left… Watch it come out in March. Worth noting from the post also is that the PowerCore Magnetic 10000 is still coming soon as well.
As for the price, the PowerCore Magnetic 5000 is going to be available on Amazon for $39.99. While that is a few dollars more than the price that was originally announced, it’s more in line with what I would expect to pay for this.
I did see people in the comments complain that you can get a 15w wireless MagSafe battery for $29.99 but I’m not inclined to trust those ones. Let’s talk about that.
Charging Speed
The biggest takeaway from the post (actually down in the comments) is that this particular battery pack is only going to charge at 5w…not 15w like actual MagSafe and not 7.5w like a normal Qi charger. 5w like the tiny power brick that Apple shipped with every iPhone for the last decade before abandoning a free power brick altogether.
I really have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand….5w is slooooow. There’s a reason that people complained that Apple stopped shipping chargers because “everyone already has a bunch”. The bunch that people have are the weakest chargers Apple has ever made. I would have hoped for at least one year of free chargers that were faster before the change was made.
But I digress.
If I want a faster charging battery bank I can just pick up the one I keep seeing everywhere online. You know the one. The green and blue one. I think it’s made by ChargeFast? I know some people have used it and said it’s fine, but I don’t know that I trust it…at least in the long run.
It’s not MagSafe certified just like the Anker one isn’t. But the company that made it had to have done some shady stuff, because not only does it charge at 15w, it also give you the a MagSafe animation! It’s not supposed to do that!
Now depending how they got it to do that, maybe that’s a whole Apple can patch up at the software level. Maybe it’s not. If it’s not, I’m worried about what they did to get that output and what potential risks that comes with. Maybe I’m being paranoid but I at least know that if something goes wrong with an Anker product, they stand by their products and customers. ChargeFast isn’t doing that if these things start blowing up or frying your phone.
As much as I really would like to have a 7.5w battery bank on my phone, it’s still worth remembering that this a a battery bank that is magnetically attached. I’m not tied to a wall, only able to travel as far as my charging cable will let me. I can actually use my phone while it’s charging on this thing, without restriction. That’s big, especially when the world reopens and I’m out and I want to take a lot of pictures. Sure I can plug into a battery bank that I have now, but that isn’t conducive to actually using your device while it charges. This is.
With all that in mind, I’m still really excited to get my hands on this when it finally comes out and I will absolutely be doing a write up on it after I have a chance to use it for a bit. What are your thoughts on the PowerCore Magnetic 5000 now that we have some more information on it? Will you be picking one up or will you be waiting for Apple to release an official battery bank? Sound off in the comments below!
Dan Stransky 