What Is MagVOOC? Oppo’s Answer To Apple’s MagSafe For iPhone
Oppo is bringing magnetic charging tech to its Android phones.
Wondering what Oppo MagVOOC is? Here’s what you need to know…
One of the biggest features of the iPhone 12 series is the MagSafe tech built into the phone. MagSafe is Apple’s name for the magnetic charging feature of the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, and iPhone 12 Pro series. It’s that big white puck that magnetically clamps to the back of the iPhone and changes it too.
MagSafe is very popular with iPhone users – and it seems, it’s very popular with someone else: Oppo, the Chinese smartphone maker. Oppo has announced that it is working on its own version of magnetic charging called MagVOOC. In other words, it’s bringing the MagSafe feature to its line of Android phones.
What Are MagSafe & MagVOOC Good For?
While magnetic charging does have its fans, some people don’t see what the excitement is all about. And there is some validity to that. That’s because magnetic charging isn’t wireless charging. It still requires the phone have contact with a big charging puck that clamps onto the back of it magnetically.
And that charging puck is connected to a wire and a power source – just like the Lightning or USB-C cable you use to charge your phone now.
But magnetic charging does have other benefits besides being able to charge your smartphone. Magnetic chargers attach to a smartphone thanks to a big magnetic coil packed inside the phone. And the magnetic connection is strong. That means – in MagSafe’s case for example – you can magnetically attach your iPhone to a horizontal charger, like third-party ones made by murmur accessory manufacturers.
Such third-party chargers are often made for cars, so thanks to MagSafe and a MagSafe-compatible car charger, as soon as you sit down behind the wheel you can just clamp your phone onto the MagSafe car charger and it will remain in place with your line of sight directly aimed at the screen.
You can’t do that with a regular Lightning cable connection.
MagSafe & MagVOOC Also Make “Wireless” Charging More Reliable
Many phones support so-called “wireless charging.” But it’s not truly wireless because the phone requires contact with a charging pad to charge. However, if you want as fast a charge as possible, the phone must be placed precisely on the wireless charging pad to its coils align with the coils in the pad. If the phone is a little off, it will charge much slower or not at all.
And that’s where we come to another benefit of MagSafe & MagVOOC: because the technology uses magnets, the phone will always be perfectly aligned with the coils in the charging pads – the phone just snaps into place thanks to the magnets.
In other words, MagSafe & MagVOOC makes “wireless” charging more reliable.
What Oppo Phones Are MagVOOC Compatible?
Oppo hasn’t revealed this as of yet. But you can bet their next flagships will have the technology.
What MagVOOC Accessories Does Oppo Make?
Oppo has announced three MagVOOC accessories:
- The MagVOOC wireless power bank, which uses the MagVOOC system to attached a power bank to the back of MagVOOC-compatible phones.
- The MagVOOC ultra-thin flash charger, which is a thinner version of a power bank.
- The MagVOOC wireless flash charging stand, which is a charging stand for MagVOOC-compatible phones.
How Much Do MagVOOC Accessories cost?
Oppo hasn’t announced any prices for MagVOOC accessories yet. But – and this is just a guess – they’ll probably come in cheaper than Apple’s MagSafe accessories, but still cost more than non-magnetic accessories.
Also, be sure to check out How To Get Your iPhone MagSafe Battery Pack To Charge Past 90%!
Michael Grothaus
Apple expert and novelist, Michael Grothaus has been covering tech on KnowYourMobile for the best part of 10 years. Prior to this, he worked at Apple. And before that, he was a film journalist. Michael is a published author; his book Epiphany Jones was voted as one of the best novels about Hollywood by Entertainment Weekly. Michael is also a writer at other publications including VICE and Fast Company.Comments are closed.