![\"iPhone](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773079568_966_iphone-17e-2026.jpg\")
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This week, Apple is releasing the new iPhone 17e, which doubles the storage and adds the \u201cmagic of MagSafe\u201d to the $599 iPhone 16e replacement. Apple\u2019s decision to bring MagSafe to the last iPhone holdout means every iPhone now has a useful hardware feature that zero Samsung phones offer.<\/p>\n
When Apple introduced the iPhone 16e a year ago, not including MagSafe in the budget model didn\u2019t make much sense. The iPhone 16e replaced the iPhone SE, which technically never had MagSafe charging.<\/p>\n
Now, for the first time since the iPhone 12 introduced MagSafe in October 2020, every new iPhone sold by Apple works with MagSafe \u2014 no case required.<\/p>\n
Adding a strong magnetic connection to the back of the iPhone enables attaching accessories like\u00a0wallets<\/a>,\u00a0stands<\/a>, and\u00a0battery packs<\/a>. It also\u00a0greatly improves wireless charging<\/a>\u00a0with charging coil alignment that snaps into place.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in Samsung land, reviewers ding the company for choosing not to put magnets inside even their most premium Samsung Galaxy smartphones<\/a>. The reason, they say, is because most people use a case. <\/p>\n Last month, The Verge<\/a> asked a Samsung executive about the decision to continue not offering a feature like MagSafe in 2026:<\/p>\n I asked Samsung\u2019s Won-Joon Choi, the executive in charge\u00a0of both R&D and operations\u00a0for Samsung\u2019s mobile business. He says the added thickness of magnets is a bad tradeoff to make, because you\u2019re just going to buy a case anyhow.<\/p>\n \u201cAbout 80 or 90 percent of people are using a case, and cases with magnets are very popular these days,\u201d he tells me.<\/p>\n Samsung would rather use that extra height to give the phone a larger battery or make it thinner, he says.<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean Samsung isn\u2019t looking into magnets. \u201cWe\u2019re still doing a lot of research to make sure we don\u2019t have any sacrifice inside the phone; when we actually achieve that, we\u2019ll integrate,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Apple, of course, managed to put MagSafe inside the impossibly thin iPhone Air<\/a>. Somehow they manage, and battery life is completely usable.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Samsung is leaving it up to case makers to standardize magnet placement, strength, and quality, which pretty much guarantees a mixed experience for accessories. It\u2019s a much simpler story when the phone itself sets the bar for magnetic accessory support.<\/p>\n
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