When Apple discontinued the MagSafe battery pack back in 2022, many of us thought it was gone for good. After all, it wasn't exactly flying off the shelves, and Apple seemed to be moving on to other accessories. But here's the thing, sometimes a product fails not because it's a bad idea, but because the timing isn't quite right.
Fast forward to 2025, and Apple did something that caught everyone off guard. The company brought back the MagSafe battery, this time reportedly designed for the ultra-thin iPhone Air. Apple launched four new iPhone models this year, the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. The Air is different. It is Apple pushing the limits of how thin a smartphone can get.
The new MagSafe battery costs $99 and fits the iPhone Air's unique shape. The hook is the performance bump, up to 65 percent additional charge for the Air, which lifts video playback from 27 hours to 40. That is better than any other iPhone in the current lineup, but only when the pack is attached.
Why the iPhone Air needed its own power solution
The iPhone Air's ultra-thin profile came with serious trade-offs, and battery capacity took the biggest hit. Internal tests at Apple suggest only 60 to 70 percent of users will make it through a full day on a single charge. Not ideal.
Leaks peg the Air's battery at just 2.49 mm thick with a capacity in the 2,800 to 2,900 mAh range, roughly what we saw in the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 era. A step back in capacity, sure, but the price of that impossibly thin silhouette.
Apple's engineering teams had to get creative. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman called it a herculean effort across display optimization, silicon efficiency, and software tweaks. They even added advanced thermal management with a steel battery case to help with heat dissipation and energy density. Physics still wins, though, so an external option was needed for people who demand all-day power.
What makes this MagSafe battery different
This MagSafe battery is not a rerun of the old model, it is a ground-up redesign for the Air. Apple describes an all-new, low-profile design tuned for the Air's thin shape. The pack is tall and skinny, built to match the phone's proportions and still slide into a pocket without turning it into a brick.
Here is the clever bit. It provides up to 12 W charging over MagSafe when used alone, a respectable speed for wireless. Plug a power adapter into both the iPhone Air and the MagSafe battery, and you get 20 W charging, fast enough to top off both when you are rushing out the door.
The battery also includes what Apple calls an intelligent system that chooses the best times to recharge, optimizing for battery health and performance. Unlike most third-party options, it has no charging port, it charges directly from the iPhone Air itself when both are connected to power. That kind of integration is the advantage of Apple owning the hardware and software stack.
PRO TIP: The intelligent charging system learns your usage patterns and prioritizes charging during off-peak hours to maximize battery longevity, something only Apple can achieve with their deep iOS integration.
How it stacks up in the MagSafe ecosystem
The MagSafe battery market has exploded since Apple first introduced the tech, and there are plenty of strong alternatives. The best overall option in recent testing is often the Anker Nano MagGo 5K Slim at $55 with a 5,000 mAh rating. Other standouts include the Belkin Boostcharge Pro Qi2 at $60, and higher capacity 10,000 mAh options from brands like Benks and Sharge in the $60 to $70 range.
What sets Apple's pack apart is not raw capacity, it is the seamless ecosystem integration. Most power bank companies say 5,000 mAh should last more than a day for most people, but Apple's approach leans on iOS-level power management. The battery works only with the iPhone Air, which opens the door to device-specific charging algorithms, thermal tuning, and power distribution that generic accessories cannot match.
So you pick your poison, flexibility or optimization. A Torras MiniMag at $40 or an Anker 622 at $30 will snap to any MagSafe phone. Apple's pack is the tailored option that can turn the iPhone Air into the longest lasting iPhone in the lineup, when paired together.
The broader strategy behind this move
This is not just a battery fix, it is Apple continuing its modular lean inside the ecosystem. The company has often chosen form first when it believes accessories or future iterations can close the gap, from the original MacBook Air's scant ports to the iPhone 7 cutting the headphone jack.
Apple announced a full suite of iPhone Air accessories, translucent cases that flaunt the thin profile, protective bumpers, and crossbody straps for hands-free use. The MagSafe battery clicks neatly into that plan.
The iPhone Air is Apple's answer to the underperforming Plus variant, and the MagSafe battery admits the obvious, ultra-thin design means compromise, then offers a clean workaround. The combined system gives real choice, go featherweight when you want portability, snap on power when you need endurance. Modularity, Apple style, with the usual smooth edges.
What this means for the future of iPhone design
Bringing back the MagSafe battery signals a shift in how Apple treats constraints. Instead of being boxed in by internal component limits, Apple is more willing to push the physical design and solve function through the ecosystem. MagSafe technology has grown from simple magnets to a platform that extends what the iPhone can do.
The move also reflects how far wireless charging has come. Wireless charging efficiency has improved a lot, where standard Qi can waste up to 50 percent, MagSafe and Qi2 lose about 30 percent. Magnetic alignment helps, trimming roughly 20 percent of the loss you get from sloppy placement on pads.
Looking ahead, the Qi 2.2 standard promises faster 25 W wireless charging, which nudges external batteries from emergency backup toward everyday power solutions. That trajectory makes Apple's modular Air strategy feel less like a stopgap and more like a bet on where charging is going.
Bottom line: A $99 solution to a self-created problem
The iPhone Air MagSafe battery will be available starting Friday for $99, timed with iPhone 17 series preorders. If you want the thinnest iPhone and refuse to compromise on battery life, Apple now sells a neat fix, it just happens to be a separate $99 accessory many assumed was gone for good.
From a value angle, it is hard not to see Apple creating a problem, limited battery life, then selling the solution. The iPhone Air plus its MagSafe battery effectively costs $99 more than buying a phone with better battery life out of the box.
Still, the modular pitch is tempting. You get the absolute thinnest phone when you want minimal carry, and when you need hours and hours, you snap on power and go.
For the iPhone Air's target crowd, people who chase cutting-edge design and are willing to pay for Apple's vision of the future, this battery might be exactly right. Not just a compromise, a statement that sometimes the best move is not cramming everything into one slab, it is building an ecosystem that adapts to you.
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