MagSafe: The Connector That Was Born in a Deep Fryer

July 2001. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission rules that electric deep fryers can no longer be sold with an ordinary power cord. The reason: since 1980 it had recorded seven children killed and 64 serious burns to children under ten in one and the same accident. A child pulls the cord, the fryer tips over, and a litre of boiling oil lands on them. The fix that became the standard is a cord that lets go: a connector held by magnets that gives way at the first tug and leaves the fryer where it is.

Five years later, Apple put that same magnet into a €2,500 laptop and called it MagSafe.

The real story: deep fryers, not frying pans

A pretty but false version of this story circulates widely online: that the MagSafe name was inspired by Japanese frying pans called nabe, which supposedly stick to the heat source with a magnetic base. It isn't true. Nabemono is a Japanese hot-pot dish, not a frying pan, and no pan attaches itself to a flame with magnets: fire isn't magnetic.

What did exist before the MacBook is the breakaway power cord on small kitchen appliances. American deep fryers were required to have one from 2001, and Japanese countertop appliances — griddles, electric pots, takoyaki makers — had been using them since the early 2000s. That is the real origin of the concept: not the shape of a pan, but the idea that a cord that lets go prevents an accident.

That is the part Apple borrowed, and it makes a better story than the frying pans: MagSafe wasn't born to make the connector convenient, it was born to keep the laptop off the floor.

MagSafe on the MacBook: 2006-2017

Apple introduced MagSafe on 10 January 2006 at Macworld Expo, alongside the first Intel-based MacBook Pro. It was a power connector held by magnets, with its contacts laid out symmetrically: you could plug it in either way up, and if somebody tripped over the cable, the connector shot out and the laptop stayed on the desk.

The original MagSafe existed in two connector shapes. The "T", from the early years, with the cable running straight out from the laptop, and the "L", which Apple introduced later so the cable would run flush along the side. They are electrically identical; only the direction the cable leaves changes.

In June 2012 came MagSafe 2: thinner, to fit the new laptops, and wider, so it didn't lose grip. It is not compatible with the original MagSafe unless you use an adapter.

Between 2016 and 2019 Apple dropped it from the whole range and moved to USB-C charging. Then in 2021 it brought it back as MagSafe 3 on the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, this time on a cable that ends in USB-C at the plug end.

The iPhone's MagSafe is a different thing

In 2020, with the iPhone 12, Apple reused the name for something completely different: a ring of magnets in the back of the phone that aligns the Qi wireless charging coil and holds accessories such as cases, wallets and stands.

They share a name and little else. The MacBook one is a power connector with a magnetic breakaway; the iPhone one is a magnetic alignment system for wireless charging. They are not compatible with each other, and one did not evolve into the other. If you came here looking for a charger, that is the first thing worth being clear about.

Which MagSafe charger does your MacBook need?

Replacing a MagSafe charger is one of the most satisfying repairs there is: nothing has to be opened up. But you do have to get two things right.

1. The shape of the connector

• MagSafe 1 "T" — MacBook and MacBook Pro from the early years. The cable runs straight out, at right angles to the laptop.
• MagSafe 1 "L" — the same connector, with the cable running off to the side.
• MagSafe 2 — thinner and wider. MacBook Air 2012-2017 and MacBook Pro Retina 2012-2015. Always "T".
• MagSafe 3 — 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro from 2021 and MacBook Air from 2022. It uses a USB-C cable, not a classic power brick.

2. The wattage

• 45 W — MacBook Air.
• 60 W — MacBook and 13" MacBook Pro.
• 85 W — 15" and 17" MacBook Pro.

You can use a charger with more watts than your MacBook asks for without any problem: the laptop only draws the power it needs. The other way round doesn't work well: with fewer watts than it asks for, it may charge very slowly or not charge at all while you're working.

At TiendaCables we keep the most common combinations in stock. If your 15" or 17" MacBook Pro has the older connector, the replacement is a MagSafe 1 charger rated at 85 W. If your laptop is from 2012 onwards and the connector is the thin one, you need a MagSafe 2 charger rated at 85 W. And if you already charge everything else with a modern USB-C charger and would rather not carry two power bricks, there is a USB-C to MagSafe 1 cable, 1.8 m long, that lets you use the charger you already own to power a 45 W or 60 W MacBook.

A cord that lets go in time

Nearly twenty years on, the idea is still the one behind those deep fryers: better the cable gives up than the appliance. That is why Apple went back to MagSafe after five years without it.

If yours has stopped charging, has frayed where it leaves the power brick, or you've simply lost it, our Chargers, Batteries and Cells section has compatible MagSafe replacements, shipped from Spain with a VAT invoice. And if you aren't sure which one is yours, write to us with your MacBook model and we'll tell you.