Apple iPhone 16e doesn’t have MagSafe, but there’s a fix

When I found out that Apple’s new iPhone 16e doesn’t support MagSafe accessories (despite having wireless charging), it was an unpleasant surprise. I rely on at least three different versions of the magnetic chargers daily (including a MagSafe Wallet), and losing access to those would be a bummer.

More broadly, the decision didn’t make much sense to me. Apple may be cutting costs by omitting MagSafe on the iPhone 16e, as well as differentiating it from the more powerful phones in its lineup, but it’s sure to lose potential profit on MagSafe accessories.

Regardless of Apple’s reasoning for this decision, the solution seemed simple: Just get a MagSafe case. However, typically for Apple, the company went all the way with omitting MagSafe on the iPhone 16e, because even the official cases for the device do not support it.

Fortunately, third-party companies have already started to fill this gap. Spigen, for example, has launched a pretty extensive lineup of iPhone 16e cases, some of which support MagSafe. A company called Mous also sells a couple of iPhone 16e cases with MagSafe.

I cannot be completely certain that a third-party case with MagSafe will always work exactly the same as having MagSafe on the phone. But given that MagSafe is essentially a Qi wireless charger paired with magnets to automatically align with MagSafe chargers, and the iPhone 16e does support Qi wireless charging, it should work fine with MagSafe-compatible chargers. Some features, such as Find My for MagSafe Wallets, probably won’t work (I will put this to the test once I get an iPhone 16e review unit).

Still, if you’re keen on getting the iPhone 16e, and you want to use MagSafe accessories, a third-party case is probably your best bet.