Twelve South launches Forté, a MagSafe charging stand for the iPhone 12 | ZDNet

Forté is Twelve South’s latest product. It’s designed to work with a user-supplied
Apple MagSafe

charging pad and power source. Effectively, it’s a stand that gives you a better option than placing your phone on the pad that’s flat on your desk. 

Thanks to the hinge, you can rotate the viewing angle of your iPhone as it sits on your nightstand or desk. And because the MagSafe magnetic connection is strong, you can place your phone in a horizontal or vertical orientation — handy if you’re watching a video or using FaceTime. The pad rotates at a total of 70 degrees. 

I used a Forté over the weekend and rather liked it. After attaching the base to the stand (with the included screw and tool), I placed my MagSafe charger into the holder and wrapped the power cord around the arm of the stand, and then I put it into the channel that goes down the back of the stand’s arm as a form of cable management.

What was interesting to me is that Twelve South states you can use the stand to charge your AirPods, simply by rotating the MagSafe pad until it’s flat. I honestly had no idea that a MagSafe pad could charge AirPods — or, if I did know, I forgot all about it. 

If you want to use the Forté as a stand for charging while you travel, you can take the base off of the stand with the included tool and put it back together when you get to your destination. I get the sentiment, but that seems like a lot of work for a simple charger. At $39.99, it gets the job done and does it well. 

I think my favorite part about MagSafe accessories is how creative companies are getting with solutions, and how few companies are actually providing a charging pad and power adapter with them. Look at the recent Nomad’s MagSafe Mount — it’s literally a block of metal that’s heavy so you won’t lift the charger off your table when removing your phone from the pad. 

The Forté does the same thing, more or less, only instead of placing your phone flat on a table, it offers some versatility. I dig it. 

Order the Forté for $39.99 now with shipments starting May 3.