When we reviewed the MagSafe Battery Pack earlier this year, one of our biggest gripes was that it was underpowered compared to its rivals, only charging at 5W versus 7.5W on other less-smart battery packs. Now Apple has unlocked faster charging thanks to a new firmware update.
Apple has announced that Firmware Version 2.7, which released earlier this week, unlocks 7.5W charging on the go for all iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 models. Additionally, you can still get up to 15W charging when the battery pack is connected to a 20W or higher power source.
You can update the firmware two ways. When the battery pack is attached to your iPhone, it automatically begins this process, though Apple says it could take as long as a week to install. You can also update the firmware using a Mac or iPad by plugging one end of a Lightning-to-USB cable into the Lightning connector on your battery pack and the other end into the USB-C port on your Mac or iPad. Apple says this method will take about 5 minutes.
The MagSafe Battery Pack released in June 2021, several months after the launch of the iPhone 12. It retails for $99 and has a 1,460mAh battery capacity, which isn’t enough to fully charge any iPhone 12 or 13 but will eke out a few more hours of battery life.