It isn't that easy to innovate in the world of charging – while there's always a drive to make chargers smaller and smaller without compromising the amount of power they can supply, it's rare to see a brand make something genuinely new. So, kudos and a hat tip to Twelve South, which just debuted a charging gadget unlike anything I've ever seen.
The PowerBug, which is available in UK, EU and US variants according to your region, is a simple enough plug that can supply up to 35W of power from a USB-C port underneath it. The bigger point, though, is that it's also a MagSafe and Qi2 magnetic charger, all in one little body.
The charger itself has a smooth disc on the outside, housing those all-important magnets, which means you can mount a compatible iPhone or Android phone with Qi2 (like all of the new Google Pixel 10 phones) right there on the plug.
That means you can actually charge two devices at once – one via the magnetic charger, and another through the USB port (although the latter will click down to 20W charging while the magnets are in use). Exactly where that might be useful is the question that naturally follows on, too.
Based on the imagery that Twelve South has supplied, and some head-scratching of my own, I think the big answer is the kitchen – where you can mount your phone on a countertop plug and use it to set timers, follow recipes and more. It could also be great by your bed, if a plug is at the right height to make Apple's StandBy mode a sensible option.
All in all, it looks like a really elegant solution for a somewhat niche problem, and that fits in nicely with the rest of Twelve South's lineup of charging gadgets, almost all of which are elevated and classy. Along those lines, PowerBug won't be the cheapest, at £49.99 or $49.99.
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