Two years after Apple introduced MagSafe for the iPhone, we're finally getting a magnetic car mount that can charge your phone. The Boost Charge Pro Wireless Car Charging With MagSafe is available for pre-order on the Apple store.

Some of you may be thinking, "Wait, Amazon is flooded with MagSafe car charges, and they're nowhere close to $100?" This one is special. This one is MagSafe and the rest are MagSafe compatible. They use a ring of magnets to hold your phone because Apple won't let it. Some listings say they can do 15W charging, but it seems like they mean that the coil in it is technically capable of fast wireless charging for phones that aren't Apple's. It seems a bit difficult to recommend a device that has the official approval of the maker of the device.

Image of an iPhone mounted to the Belkin charger.
One of my colleagues said the part that grabs the vent looks a bit like Greedo, and now I can’t unsee it.
Image: Apple

If you clip it onto your car vent, it will hold your phone up so you can see maps or music controls on it, in theory. It will give 15W of charging power, which is more than the standard charging power for phones.

This is an obvious use for the MagSafe tech. That was the reason why it was so surprising when Belkin announced this exact thing the day after the introduction of MagSafe, but it didn't include the ability to charge your phone. If you were using a navigation app that needed a lot of power, you would want it to do the main thing.

You can get the power from your car to your phone with a built-inusb-C cable. I was going to be angry because most cars modern enough to have ausb-c port will probably not need one. If you own a car with no phone charging capabilities, or if you own a car that has no phone charging capabilities, you can get a 12V car charging accessory from Belkin. I can't think of a situation in which that would be a problem, and I would prefer a cable that's not exposed to sunlight.

Image of the Belkin charging pad, its integrated USB-C cable, and the car charger adapter.
The 12V charger is what makes USB-C make sense.
Image: Apple

The mount can change your phone's orientation from portrait to landscape. It costs almost as much as it does, but for the most part it is a good accessory.

Most people will probably want to look at other, less expensive options, even though MagSafe accessories don't come cheap. Spigen makes a $21 version of this that can be used as a receptacle. You would still be saving a decent amount of change even if you splashed out on a fancy $20 dualusb-c 12v adapter. Spigen's version comes in black, which will make it stand out against most dashboards.

The $60 BoostCharge Magnetic Wireless Car Charger isMagSafe compatible, meaning it holds your phone using magnets, but can only charge at 10 watt, instead of 15 watt. I might gravitate towards that version over the MagSafe ones given that I would expect faster wireless charging to overheating my phone.

The Belkin Boost Charge Pro Wireless Car Charger with MagSafe will be available on November 14th.