Apple has finally approved the MagSafe car mount charger, and it only costs $99.95

Apple has finally approved the MagSafe car mount charger, and it only costs $99.95. Is

Just two years after Apple introduced the MagSafe for iPhones, we're finally getting the accessory it should have launched with: a magnetic car mount capable of actually charging your phone. As spotted by 9to5Mac, Belkin has announced its Boost Charge Pro wireless car charger with MagSafe, which is available for pre-order at the Apple Store.

I know what some of you might be thinking: "Wait, Amazon is flooded with MagSafe car chargers, and they're nowhere near $100. What makes this special?" The answer is that it is indeed MagSafe, where the rest of MagSafe is compatible. That means they use a ring of magnets to hold your phone in place, and standard Qi charging can't pump that much power into your phone – because Apple won't let it. (Some really questionable listings say they can do 15W charging, but it looks like they mean the coil in it is technically capable of fast wireless charging for phones that aren't iPhones.) But iPhone makers The official blessing is finally here. here... and it seems a bit hard to recommend.

Belkin's awesome name is basically how it works: You clip it to your car vent, and it props up your iPhone so you can see whatever maps or music controls are on it. In theory, anyway - a lot of car vents struggle to stay afloat under the weight of a phone and mount). It will also provide 15W of charging power, which is more than what the iPhones can draw from a standard Qi charger.

As I said earlier, this is a very obvious use for Apple's MagSafe technology. Which is why it was so surprising when Belkin originally announced this exact thing a day after introducing the iPhone 12 to MagSafe — except it cost $40 and it doesn't actually charge your phone. used to do. capacity remaining. You know, the main thing you'll want to do if you're trying to use a power-hungry navigation app.

Unlike that model, Belkin's new accessory includes a built-in USB-C cable to get power from your car to your phone. I was going to go crazy about it, because most cars that are modern enough to have a USB-C port probably come with CarPlay (though there are notable exceptions), making this accessory much less necessary. Thankfully, Belkin also includes a 12V car charger adapter for those whose cars come with a USB-A port or don't have phone charging capability to speak of. It seems sensible enough, and I can't think of any situation where this would be a problem, although I would have preferred a removable cable over a product that would probably be constantly exposed to sunlight.

The mount can also rotate your phone from portrait to landscape, however you like to see your directions. For the most part, it feels like a perfectly capable accessory – however, it costs $99.95.

I understand that MagSafe accessories generally don't come cheap, but I think most people would at least want to consider other, less expensive options. Spigen makes a $21 version of this that serves as a receptacle for the $39 MagSafe puck. Even if you splurge for a fancy $20 dual USB-C 12V adapter (since it doesn't come with one), you'll still be saving a fair chunk of change. Also, Spigen's version comes in black, while Belkin's version only comes in white, which will stand out like a sore throat against most dashboards.

You can also get Belkin's $60 BoostCharge Magnetic Wireless Car Charger, which is "MagSafe compatible," which means it keeps your phone in place using magnets, but it can only charge at 10W instead of 15W . Given that I'd expect fast wireless charging to warm up my phone during the summer, I might gravitate toward that version with the MagSafe ones.

If you don't like any of these options, though, the Belkin Boost Charge Pro Wireless Car Charger with MagSafe starts shipping in November.