Would you buy an iPhone even if it didn’t have MagSafe on board? That’s the question customers may have to ask, if a new report is correct.

Serial leaker Instant Digital has just posted on Weibo that MagSafe could be in doubt for future iPhones. “There's been a lot of internal debate at Apple recently regarding whether to include MagSafe as a standard feature on iPhones,” they claimed.

How Did MagSafe Start On iPhones?

In case you don’t know, the first iPhones with wireless charging were the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, released in fall 2017. But it was easy to misplace the phone on a charging pad and wake in the morning to find the phone hadn’t recharged overnight.

It was when the iPhone 12 series landed in 2020 that Apple introduced the ring of magnets which ensured an effortless connection between phone and pad.

Apple called it MagSafe and it’s now available, under another name, Qi2 compatibility, for Android phones, too.

Lessons From The iPhone 16e And 17e

When Apple released the iPhone 16e last year, the absence of MagSafe meant users had to rely on third-party cases with magnets in to get the benefit, and it’s something for which Apple was criticized. So much so that the iPhone 17e rectified the absence.

“When MagSafe was first introduced, the internal stance was very aggressive,” the Weibo leak went on. “Now they're starting to waver, considering the MagSafe accessory ecosystem has been very successful. Are they really going to sacrifice the device itself for this?”

It’s a good question. I can’t see it happening.

But What If The iPhone’s Too Thin?

That said, I think it’s possible that the folding iPhone expected this September might have to manage without MagSafe as it’s expected to be so thin. And users may not care for the idea that the priciest iPhone is missing a key feature.

But will that lead to the signature feature being dropped? It seems unlikely to me. While it’s too early to predict about the folding iPhone, I think MagSafe is a shoo-in for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max this fall.