MagSafe will only charge iPhone 12 mini at 12W, all other models at 15W

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Magsafe Charger Hero
Magsafe Charger Hero (Image credit: Joe Wituschek / iMore)

What you need to know

  • Apple will put iPhone 12 mini up for pre-order this Friday, November 6.
  • It's updated a support document to include information about using a MagSafe Charger with the miniature iPhone.
  • Turns out the MagSafe Charger can only charge iPhone 12 mini at 12W.

In news that will surely be a disappointment to those planning on picking one up, Apple says that the MagSafe Charger will only charge iPhone 12 mini at up to 12W. That's strange because the rest of the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro lineup all support 15W charging.

The news comes after MacRumors spotted a newly updated support document that outlines the speeds at which a MagSafe Charger can do its thing. And it isn't great reading for those buying Apple's smallest iPhone 12.

The MagSafe Charger is designed to quickly and safely wirelessly charge your iPhone 12. The system intelligently adapts to conditions in order to optimize charging iPhone 12 at up to 15W of peak power delivery for faster wireless charging. The actual power delivered to the iPhone will vary depending on the wattage of the power adapter and system conditions. For iPhone 12 mini, the MagSafe Charger delivers up to 12W of peak power delivery.

Apple doesn't go on to explain why that might be, which is a real shame. We might have to wait until someone tears one of these things down to see what's going on inside. But if I had to guess, it could be related to the size of the device and potential cooling issues. But again, that's my wild guess,

Regardless of the reasons, it's pretty bad news for anyone buying an iPhone 12 mini this week. And don't forget you're still going to need a charger as well!

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.