Apple iPhone 12 Mini MagSafe Charging Power Gimped By 20 Percent Compared To Its Siblings

by Brandon Hill — Tuesday, November 03, 2020, 01:44 PM EDT

Apple's 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini is expected to be a hot seller once preorders open up on Friday morning. The smartphone will be priced from $699, which is $100 less than the 6.1-inch iPhone 12 that it is most closely aligned with. However, it appears that the iPhone 12 mini has some other compromises tossed in (besides its smaller display and battery), including its MagSafe charging abilities.

It has just been revealed in a recently updated support document that in addition to the already convoluted wall adapter requirements necessary to get maximum power from an official MagSafe charger, that the iPhone 12 mini is limited to wireless charging at 12W. This is a 3W drop from the 15W maximum that MagSafe supports with Apple's new 20W USB-C wall charger on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro.

And to achieve the 12W maximum charging power, you'll need a USB-C Power Delivery brick that is rated above 9V/2.03A. Another wrinkle to add is that if you are using a Lightning accessory (such as Apple EarPods) at the same time that you are using MagSafe, wireless charging will be paired back to a maximum of 7.5W. Apple states in the updated document:

The MagSafe Charger is designed to negotiate the max power up to 9 volt (V) and 3 amp (A) with a USB PD-compatible power adapter. MagSafe will dynamically optimize power delivered to the iPhone. The power delivered to the iPhone 12 at any moment will vary depending on various factors, including temperature and system activity.

We reported late last month that MagSafe is currently only able to deliver the full 15W wirelessly to the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro with the brand-new 20W USB-C charger. Apple's existing 18W USB-C charger and even the 96W MacBook Pro USB-C charger are unable to provide the full 15W, coming in at 13W and 10W respectively with independent testing.

The iPhone 12 mini features a 5.4-inch Super Retina XDR OLED Display, A14 Bionic SoC, 4GB, RAM, dual rear cameras, and is available in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities.

Tags: Apple, magsafe, (NASDAQ:AAPL), iphone 12 mini

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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