Twelve South again. The PowerBug is a Qi2 wall charger that plugs its prongs straight into the outlet and magnetically floats the iPhone on the wall at 15W, no cable in the equation.
The puck is 60mm across, 29mm thick, and 95 grams, with foldable prongs on the US version and separate UK and EU builds. The Qi2 pad does 15W; the USB-C port underneath does 35W alone, or 20W while the pad runs. Both Qi2 and USB-IF certifications are on the box, and the phone rotates 360 degrees on the magnet for StandBy in portrait or landscape.
Colors
- White / Dune
- Slate / Black
Reviewers keep landing on the same shape: clever, if your outlets cooperate. 9to5Toys' Justin Kahn ran one in the kitchen and by the bed and called the combination handier than expected, with the caveat that everything depends on an outlet at usable height. His bottom line was that plenty of wall chargers push more watts for less, and almost none of them hold the phone. Cult of Mac's Ed Hardy went 4 out of 5, summed it up as "a useful iPhone stand and wall charger in one palm-size product," and found extended wireless sessions ran warm enough for the iPhone to throttle.
MagSafe accessory ideas are still better than MagSafe adoption, and this is one of them: the magnet turns a charger into a mount. Beside the ButterFly SE, the split is simple: one folds for the bag, one owns the hotel wall.
iPhoners with a counter-height outlet get a recipe stand, a StandBy clock, and a travel charger in 95 grams. Everyone else gets a charger that's picky about real estate.
