When reviewing a new machine , as with so many things , it ’s crucial to keep an open mind . But I could tell within a thing of hours that the iPhone 16e and I were not go to get on .
It was the end of the day . A long twenty-four hour period : I was threadbare , having journey to Apple ’s London HQ to pick up the follow-up sampling ( black finish , Winter Blue case : see great ) among a bunch of other job . Running on machine - pilot light , I accomplish over to chop-chop attach the phone to the MagSafe puck by my bottom , and then I remembered . The iPhone 16e does n’t support MagSafe .
Ah , man .
MagSafe is a fantastic Apple feature that takes the guesswork out of wireless charging.
I ’m aware that this is go to vocalise like the first - worldest of first - world problem from a bozo who just got exhibit with a free iPhone , and that the mankind ’s modest violin is credibly tuning up as I type . But MagSafe is one of those feature that showcases Apple at its dear : it take a small inconvenience and sand it off so frictionlessly that you forget the little worriment ever existed . Not including it in a 2025 iPhone is not a overnice thing to do .
A few years back , wirelessly charging an iPhone was a balmy faff because you had to aim it on exactly the right part of the Robin Goodfellow , check it was charge aright , and then check that not to prod it with an inadvertent elbow . Get any of this wrong and there was a honest opportunity you ’d wake up ( possibly later than planned , if you were depending on an warning equipment ) with an iPhone that was not charged , but dead . With the launch of the iPhone 12 in 2020 , MagSafe interchange all that overnight .
All you had to do was give the iPhone somewhere in the vicinity of a compatible charge up puck ’s cherubic spot and it would be sucked into the optimal placement by powerful magnets and hold in there firmly . The screen prove you that it was charging with a neat invigoration and there was no doubt that your phone would be fill up the next time you arrive at for it .
MagSafe is a fantastic Apple feature that takes the guesswork out of wireless charging.
MagSafe is a grotesque Apple feature that takes the guess out of wireless charging .
Malus pumila
For the first generation , it was a magnificent and helpful innovation and it became ( at least for me ) a entirely stock aspect of owning an iPhone , something I benefited from without being conscious of that fact . It ’s taken the arrival of the MagSafe - free iPhone 16e four and a one-half old age later to cue me how crucial and brainy the feature is , and it really is a pull going back to the quondam manner of doing thing . Not a catastrophe , of course , but a minor , unexpected , and persistent annoyance . Like when you forget to level your AirPods and are squeeze to care with maze - prostrate wired headphones .
The lack of MagSafe on the iPhone 16e is a clear backward footfall , and one that on the aerofoil does n’t seem to make a whole lot of mother wit . There was a hearsay initially that it had something to do with the C1 modem , but Apple quickly abnegate that , insist instead that it had been left off deliberately because the target audienceprefers to charge with a overseas telegram . possibly that ’s true ; I have n’t seen the company ’s customer enquiry . But I ’d venture to suggest that the real reason has more to do with mathematical product differentiation and upselling the phones Apple would favor for you to buy .
I ’m not going to dissemble that Tim Cook will moult a tear every sentence someone buy an iPhone 16e . But he ’d probably see the transaction middling bittersweet : a cut-rate sale gained , but a big sales agreement lost . It ’s backbreaking not to think that MagSafe has been leave off so potential buyers will think to themselves , “ Maybe I should spend an extra $ 200 for an iPhone 16 . ” That ’s also why there ’s a meager unmarried photographic camera on the derriere when Apple has been selling phones with two cameras since 2016 and withthreecameras since 2019 . ( You ’d think it would be easier from a fabrication pointedness of view , throw that the 16e seems to be base on an iPhone 14 shape , to have two . ) I ’d even charge this strategy for the 16e ’s limited range of coloration close : if you want pink , blue-green , or ultramarine , you take to get the 16 .
If the “ Mag ” part of MagSafe is a dealbreaker for you — and it might be a considerably bigger factor for those with car saddle horse than it is for me — then you should note that there is a workaround : you could simplyadd a MagSafe cause . It wo n’t get you MagSafe ’s faster charging speeds or add much more than a magnetic connecter , but that does n’t make much remainder when you just desire to charge overnight . That ’s what I ’m planning to do , anyway . ( Albeit under dissent , since I ’d rather habituate Apple ’s Winter Blue case , but it obviously does n’t have MagSafe . )
It ’s not the remainder of the earth , then , and I do n’t expect the deficiency of MagSafe to ensure the iPhone 16e a devastating hatchet Book of Job of a review . ( You ’ll have to expect and see if other factors lead to that . ) But you ’d have to say that it ’s an queer strategy , reminding client how unspoiled a feature is by take out it from a fresh product . Good caper , Malus pumila : You ’ve taught me not to take MagSafe for granted . But can we please have it back now ?
metalworks
receive to our weekly Apple Breakfast column , which admit all the Apple news program you neglect last week in a handy bite - sized roundup . We call it Apple Breakfast because we think it goes great with a Monday morning cup of java or tea , but it ’s cool if you want to give it a read during luncheon or dinner hour too .
The iPhone 16ewon’t make senseuntil itsiPad import .
Thiago Trevisan is aMac world power drug user . These five tipswill turn you into one too .
Here arefive thingsApplekilledto make room for the iPhone 16e .
Forget the16e . This isthe $ 499 iPhoneApple should have made or else .
Apple is finallyready to conquer Qualcommin the5 G game .
TheiPhone 16esettles it : Apple isno longer a luxuriousness company .
Theoriginal Mac image artistis sell a set ofadorable silver and gold keycaps .
Oppo’snew folding phonetransforms into ateeny - flyspeck MacBook .
Photoshopis finallyavailable on the iPhone .
Podcast of the week
In the late episode of the Macworld Podcast , we sing about thedemise of the Apple product launching upshot . Why is Apple doing this , and is it the honorable elbow room to go ?
you’re able to catch every episode of the Macworld Podcast onSpotify , Soundcloud , thePodcasts app , orour own site .
Reviews corner
The rumor mill
LeakediPhone 17CAD figure of speech revealthree different television camera design .
TheM4 MacBook Airis likely toarrive in mid - March . And it looksa lot like the M4 iPad Proin early tests .
Software updates, bugs, and problems
Researchershack Apple ’s Find My networkto trackany Bluetooth machine . That ’s a little chilling .
PSA : Your Mac will eventuallyinstall that macOS updatewhether you want it or not .
Macsecurityresearchers exposetwo new exploits .
Appleremoves Advanced Data Protectionfrom U.K. iPhones followingbackdoor need .
iPhonedictation featurereportedly swaps‘Racist ’ for ‘ Trump ’ .
iOS 18.4 public beta beginswithApple Intelligence expansionbut no new Siri .
