Apple appears to be readying a redesigned MagSafe Battery Pack for the iPhone with USB-C charging instead of Lightning.
After unveiling the iPhone 15 family in September, Apple removed the MagSafe Battery Pack from sale. But it looks like the company aims to bring the accessory back to market with an updated design and USB-C power instead of Lightning.
PatentlyApple reports that Apple was granted a design patent for a portable battery pack, published under number 2322474.6M001 in the Hong Kong Patent Office database. Patent drawings depict what looks like a redesigned MagSafe Battery Pack with two USB-C ports that reside at the top of the battery.
Apple readying MagSafe Battery Pack with a USB-C twist
In contrast, the old MagSafe Battery Pack had a single Lightning port at the bottom. With two USB-C ports, the supposed new MagSafe Battery Pack would enable you to charge your iPhone 15 and another USB-C device.
Or, maybe one port will be used for passthrough charging so you could recharge the battery itself and another device via a second USB-C port at the same time.
The removed MagSafe Battery Pack also supported wireless charging via MagSafe and Qi chargers. The patent doesn’t mention it, but the new battery should work with upcoming Qi2 chargers (and MagSafe, of course). Reverse wireless charging, another feature of the old battery, is something we’d like to see for the new battery.
With it, you plug your iPhone into power with the battery pack snapped onto it to have the phone also charge the battery pack once its battery is at 100%.
The switch to USB-C
Apple registers many patents that never get used in real products as a defense strategy. As this is a granted patent, we take it as a sign that a USB-C redesign of the MagSafe Battery Pack is in the works and coming sooner rather than later.
Apple also killed its MagSafe Duo Charger for the apparent reason. The company has transitioned most of its products away from Lightning, but some holdouts remain, like its battery packs and wireless mice, trackpads and keyboards.