According to John Gruber's Daring Fireball tech blog, Apple representatives who spoke to him explained that the decision to omit MagSafe from the iPhone 16e was based on its "targ

We now have confirmation of why the iPhone 16e lacks MagSafe, and the reason is not solely financial.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox

Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone.

The iPhone 16e doesn't feature MagSafe support. Apple explained why it left this beloved iPhone function behind on this model.

One of the most surprising aspects of the new iPhone 16e is its lack of MagSafe. MagSafe is an Apple-created tech that’s so good that the Wireless Power Consortium adopted it as the basis of the Qi2 wireless charging standard used by non-Apple devices. But it’s not on the iPhone 16e, and that’s by design.

When Apple announced the iPhone 16e it said that while it did support wireless charging, it would not support MagSafe.

When Apple first introduced MagSafe for the iPhone in 2020, I did not fully appreciate it. iPhones had supported wireless charging for a few years at that point—and Android phones started doing so in 2012—and while MagSafe offered faster and less finicky charging,

You can’t add actual MagSafe to an iPhone 16e, but you can add the ring of magnets that helps align charging coils and hold your phone onto charging stands and car phone mounts.

Apple has responded to iPhone 16e critics, and says that engineering choices like a lack of MagSafe that make the device unappealing to the tech-savvy don't matter to the larger market.

The iPhone 16e doesn't officially support MagSafe charging, but a test shows that you might want MagSafe cases nonetheless.