Want MagSafe on your iPhone 16e? The iPhone 17e makes a retrofit possible
An iPhone 17e teardown shows its rear panel can be used to facilitate MagSafe charging on the previous year's model
When Apple launched the iPhone 17e sub-flagship smartphone last month, the key addition was the MagSafe wireless charging standard that was eschewed for the previous year’s model.
However, if you’re desperate for magnetised wireless charging on the phone you may have bought just a few short months ago, there is a roundabout way to do it, thanks to the celebrated tinkerers at iFixit. Take an iPhone 17e, right? Remove the back panel. And use it to replace its counterpart on the iPhone 16e. Tada! Functioning, magnetic wireless charging.
And, because the iPhone 16e and iPhone 17e are among the more repairable Apple models out there, as soon as the backplate components for the 17e become available, this should be feasible for those experienced folks willing to give it a try. There are some caveats iFixit discovered. You won’t see the software respond as if you’re using MagSage on an officially supported phone, for starters.
“…the MagSafe back from the 17e can be popped onto a 16e. It’s not a 100% identical experience: Your 16e won’t inherit the “thonk” noise and MagSafe animation, and it won’t pop into StandBy mode when you’re MagSafe charging and your phone is on its side.”
The site also says users going down this route may not achieve the max 15W charging speeds from a phone that’s officially Qi2 compatible. However, it’ll still likely be faster than the standard non-magnetised wireless charging experience.
“Your 16e also won’t suddenly become aware of the iPhone 17e’s Qi2 charging standard, which draws a consistent 15W instead of the variable 5-15W of Qi and Qi Magnetic,” the site adds. “It should still mean more efficient charging, however. We’d have to do more testing to be sure, but we have observed the 16e with a 17e back glass draw up to 10W, and it seems plausible that a 16e with the MagSafe alignment might even draw closer to 15W. In all, being able to swap in a 17e MagSafe back is essentially giving last year’s phone this year’s upgrade, for a fraction of the price.”
Nice. When Apple releases the part, it’s likely to cost around $120/£95. We wouldn’t advocate for novice tinkerers giving this a shot, as it’ll definitely void the warranty. However, for those iPhone users handy with a screwdriver, it’s potentially a handy and satisfying DIY upgrade for the iPhone 16e
Chris Smith
