iPhone 16e Teases MagSafe Support, But Falls Short: The Curious Case of Near-Compatibility

The iPhone 16e surprisingly lacks MagSafe support, despite coming very close to having it. The phone includes internal magnets that weakly connect to MagSafe chargers, but the connection is not strong enough for practical use, especially when the phone is in a case. Apple justified this omission by stating that the target market of iPhone 16e users primarily charges their phones using cables and does not typically use wireless charging or MagSafe accessories. Critics argue that this reasoning is circular, as previous iPhone models used by this audience did not support MagSafe, leading to underutilization of the technology. The three main benefits of MagSafe are easier wireless charging alignment, faster charging speeds up to 25W with the latest chargers, and a wide range of compatible accessories.