Apple's MagSafe Duo charger not compatible with first-party 29W adapter
Apple on Thursday published a support document detailing best practices for its MagSafe Duo charger, noting that users will not be able to simultaneously charge an iPhone 12 and Apple Watch with the company's legacy 29W power adapter.
According to the support webpage, the Apple 29W USB-C power adapter is "incompatible" with MagSafe Duo. The company replaced the 29W model with a 30W version in 2018.
A quick look at MagSafe Duo's specifications explains why the charger doesn't work with the older adapter.
Apple notes the dual-charging accessory requires at least 15W of power (5V/3A or 9V/1.67A) to simultaneously juice up an iPhone and Apple Watch. The 29W power adapter does not meet those exact power delivery specifications.
Wireless charging rates are also noted in the document, with Apple claiming 11W of power for a 9V/2.22A power adapter and 14W for adapters rated at 9V/3A or higher. As previously reported, the iPhone 12 mini reaches a peak wireless charging rate of 12W with an adapter outputting 9V/2.62A, while adapters at or above 9V/3A will deliver a maximum of up to 14W peak power to other iPhone 12 models.
For more on power delivery profiles and why MagSafe can't charge at 15W with certain adapters, read AppleInsider's in-depth explainer.
According to the support webpage, the Apple 29W USB-C power adapter is "incompatible" with MagSafe Duo. The company replaced the 29W model with a 30W version in 2018.
A quick look at MagSafe Duo's specifications explains why the charger doesn't work with the older adapter.
Apple notes the dual-charging accessory requires at least 15W of power (5V/3A or 9V/1.67A) to simultaneously juice up an iPhone and Apple Watch. The 29W power adapter does not meet those exact power delivery specifications.
Wireless charging rates are also noted in the document, with Apple claiming 11W of power for a 9V/2.22A power adapter and 14W for adapters rated at 9V/3A or higher. As previously reported, the iPhone 12 mini reaches a peak wireless charging rate of 12W with an adapter outputting 9V/2.62A, while adapters at or above 9V/3A will deliver a maximum of up to 14W peak power to other iPhone 12 models.
For more on power delivery profiles and why MagSafe can't charge at 15W with certain adapters, read AppleInsider's in-depth explainer.
Comments
LMFTFY: The 29w charger only deals with USB PD 2.0, and therefore whilst the 29w USB C PSU can supply the required 3a at 5v or 1.67a at 9v, it won't because the dock needs PD 3.0, and the USB PD 2.0 fallback doesn't provide enough juice. A slightly more expensive voltage regulator that supported USB PD 2.0 and 3.0 in the dock would have dealt with that. Apple could have had a fallback to PD 2 or below, and had the dock charge one or the other items so that in a pinch (likely when travelling), you could borrow a super common USB A charger or use a USB A wall socket. I see USB-A wall sockets all over the place, yet to see a USB-C one. My Anker charging puck works just fine charging my iPhone X with a 5v/2a power supply, and I even have a 5w wireless charger that is slow but fine for overnight charging.
This thing is becoming a bigger and bigger white elephant as each day passes.
I bought a pair of HomePods. I've ordered the AirPods Max. However, I don't think I can pull the trigger on this purchase. This thing is just not making any sense to me. It is the iPod Socks of our era.
… and then we had the headphone brassiere. Hopefully there’s a decent hard case on the way.
The display doesn't state a thing about what version of PD it provides; and as far as I can tell Apple doesn't even specify the PD version for their own Mac computers: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201163#specification
Following their "[t]o learn which specification is supported"-advice on a MBP16 you'd only get this:
Yes, charging is possible, but the snowflake MagSafe Duo Charger probably won't be able to handle exactly how the Mac is able to provide it with up to 15W.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211925
At least Apple may be a little out in front with the release of this info. Whet I didn't see here (and I may have missed it) is if the 30W charger will support the Duo charger.
I don't know if the 50% figure is at all accurate, but inductive/wireless charging definitely is not as efficient as charge by wire. The MagSafe protocol minimizes some energy loss by ensuring correct alignment when the phone and charger "lock" together. A lot of people have complained about poor charging that turned out be be a function of not aligning phones with the charging coil.
It's not a "gimmick" though I would say it's overpriced. And what are the serious problems you allege for the 12 series?
Apple products have always been more expensive but it's been worth it because they are well designed and last. Now we're seeing poorly designed products that have cut corners and apple too cheap to include the proper power supply. I'm not impressed.
The numbers I've seen say 25-30% loss in efficiency for wireless charging. I haven't seen anything specific to MagSafe but a direct wire connection is always more efficient.
How long ago was it that EVERY device came with it's own bespoke barrel-plug DC adapter? There was no expectation that one could use the power supply from an old device to power a new one. If you were geeky enough (probably most of us) you could read the power specification diagram on the transformer for polarity, volts & amps and find interchangeable power supplies, maybe even adapt them if you were really adventurous.
Come to think of it, those little DC spec diagrams on old transformers were pretty helpful to those geeky enough to care about such things, I wonder if it's time that every USB-C device using Power Delivery should be required to incorporate a tiny E-ink or OLED screen to display detail about faults/capabilities. It would be a design challenge, but with some care (I know, not USB's strong suit) it must be possible to display useful info to confirm a power supply is providing what a downstream device needs as well as displaying real-time capacity per-port when no device is plugged in to inform users, perhaps letting them know before attempting to use an under-power supply.
Some better USB-C battery power supplies already incorporate screens to give details about power per port. My Ubiquiti Unifi networking gear has little touchscreens on the front panel that are touch & swipe sensitive and can display basic device health info (as well as guide a really cool AR experience where each port is labeled with the device it feeds...). Anyway, little screens are popping up everywhere, maybe USB-C Power Supplies are a good place for another one.
Apple could have dealt with this so much better. For example:
1. Just include the damn USB-C charging brick. Stop nickel and dime-ing us on a phone that costs up to $1300.
2. Make and include a 5W USB-C brick. State that it only supports standard charging rates.
3. Keep the old charging brick and cable, offering users ability to later upgrade to a USB-C solution and/or MagSafe.
As for this particular situation, it's both comical and probably moot. This charger is expensive, doesn't include a USB-C brick and from what I read, has questionably durability. This thing is going to fail spectacularly.
I think a far better solution would be to make it so that every connector could dynamically adapt to the needs of whatever is connected to it. Hide the complexity completely. The design challenge then would be to find a way to make that solution cheap enough for things like wall plugs and other inexpensive electronics. That and figuring out a solution for low power devices where it's not possible to adapt to high power needs.
Edit: To say nothing of the constantly advancing USB spec. Even if you came up with a reference spec for power supplies that would power EVERYTHING within the 2020 USB PD spec, you know there will be a 2021 spec and if more power-hungry modes are available, there is no way last years power supplies will be able to meet that. Maybe I lack the creativety to imagine another way for ALL power supplies to support ALL devices across time?
Devices are broken into classes now, those are the Power Delivery Profiles (not sure that's the technical term) and there are dozen of them AFAIK. This labeling ISN'T happening now. Even if it was, no one can keep them all straight, honestly humans aren't good at this kind of thing. And there must be edge cases where a USB PD2 device can support some USB PD3 modes, though not all of them, making labeling by class (PD2, PD3, etc.) difficult.
If the machine knows what it needs (and it does, with PD), it it should show me. It the machine knows it's not getting what it needs, it should show me. If there is an edge case presents itself (reduced capacity, available power has changed since plugin, etc.) it should offer an explanation.