MagSafe Battery Pack updates: Charges 50% faster, and so it might make sense

The update delivered in the past few hours on MagSafe Battery Pack it is not “minimal” like the one at the beginning of December, when no important news arrived. The firmware 2.7 available now for the magnetic powerbank for iPhone brings with it a new weight, namely the wireless charging a 7.5 watts instead of the 5 watts with which it has so far supplied power to smartphones with the Apple.

Absolutely it is not a step game changer, but relative to the previous condition it is still a 50% increase. We have the feeling that in this way Apple may have solved or at least put a patch on one of the main problems that at the time of the review made us turn up our noses, namely the fact that with just 5 watts delivered on the move we were often in the condition from consume more than the MagSafe Battery Pack could replenish.

We reiterate it once again: 2.5 watts more are few, but probably they can make a difference in more than a few cases where the previous 5 watts failed to meet the energy needs of the powerful A15 Bionic chip and at the same time recharge the iPhone battery, even slightly.

Before, despite the battery pack attached, it was not uncommon to see the percentage of charge of the iPhone go down anyway; now, on the other hand, the precious Apple accessory for over 100 euros in the price list could make sense to be purchased even by those who often perform fairly energy-intensive operations.

The news emerges from the Apple support page for the MagSafe Battery Pack in English, while at the time of writing the Italian version still contains the old indication of the 5 watt recharge. Here’s what Apple is pointing to now in the English version of the support:

To recharge at 7.5 watts, update the MagSafe Battery Pack to the latest firmware. The firmware update comes started automatically after hooking the battery pack to your iPhone. The update can take about a week (before being found by the phone on the servers and actually installed, ed).

In the worst case, a week’s wait has to be added to the bill. Which is no small feat, especially for those who make heavy use of the MagSafe Battery Pack, perhaps with an iPhone 13 mini which for physical reasons, of internal volume, could not have a record-breaking mAh capacity. But you can go a faster way to upgrade the accessory to the latest firmware, 2.7. Apple writes that:

To update the firmware using a Mac or iPad, plug the Lightning end of the USB cable into the battery pack and the other into the Mac or iPad. The update will be installed in approximately 5 minutes.

The MagSafe Battery Pack, official since July 2021, integrates an 11.13 watt-hour battery: that’s ‌1,460 mAh at its 7.62 volt voltage, equivalent to 2,905 mAh with the 3.85 volts of the iPhone battery. Which means that, in theory, therefore gross of inexorable dissipations, it guarantees more than a complete charging cycle to an iPhone 13 mini (2,348 mAh battery), almost one to an iPhone 13 (3,240 mAh) or to a 13 Pro. (3,095 mAh), and replenish just over half the charge of an iPhone 13 Pro Max (4,352 mAh).

To recharge it, you can use a 27-watt or more power adapter like the ones that come with MacBooks. By connecting a Lightning cable, however, can be used as a wireless charger up to 15 watts of power (slightly less on the mini). Power supply and cable are not supplied.

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