Although the most interesting iPhone feature to be announced at WWDC, it seems like the StandBy Mode‘s thunder was entirely stolen by the Vision Pro headset announcement. The StandBy Mode is Apple’s clever way of making the iPhone screen useful even when you’re not using it. Dock the iPhone horizontally on a MagSafe charger and the StandBy Mode screen kicks in, turning into a clock, calendar, or widget of your choice. The screen uses Apple’s always-on display technology, and since it needs to be plugged in to be active, it doesn’t affect your iPhone battery. The StandBy Mode was announced in June, but it gets its first proper third-party product in the form of Twelve South’s HiRise 3 Deluxe – a 3-in-1 charging stand that charges your iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch simultaneously without occupying a lot of space on your nightstand.
Designer: Twelve South
The HiRise 3 Deluxe is MagSafe certified, capable of charging your iPhone at up to 15W. It offers a unique advantage with its adjustable MagSafe pad, allowing a 35-degree angle shift for optimal viewing. Unlike traditional side-by-side layouts, this charger adopts a front-to-back arrangement, saving crucial desk real estate for those cramped nightstands or cluttered work areas. Twelve South prides itself on a footprint smaller than an iPhone 14 Pro Max laid flat. Additionally, the Apple Watch charging spot can be angle-adjusted too, allowing you to charge the Watch laid down flat, or even sitting upright if your band doesn’t open like traditional straps.
Although almost any MagSafe charging stand would activate the iPhone’s StandBy Mode, Twelve South was quick to capitalize on the HiRise 3 Deluxe’s ability by pretty much showing it in action. Dock the iPhone in place and its StandBy Mode activates automatically. You can swipe through screens to choose different clock/calendar styles or even select your own cards/widgets to show up when you’re charging your phone. Conversely, if you just want to charge your phone without the ‘theatrics’, dock it in portrait mode and it charges normally.
Aside from its clever, compact design, the HiRise 3 Deluxe is also MFi-certified, which allows it to charge your devices at the highest speeds permissible. In that vein, the dock supplies your phone with 15W, while giving your AirPods 7.5W of power to juice them faster than most conventional wireless chargers. The convenience ultimately lies in the fact that one single dock takes care of all your devices using a single cable and a single power socket, saving space pretty much everywhere. I’d throw in an AirPower Mat joke here but given how classy and functional the HiRise 3 Deluxe is, I wouldn’t want to kick a trillion-dollar company when it’s down.
Available on both Twelve South’s as well as on Apple’s own website, the HiRise 3 Deluxe starts at $149.95 and only comes in black.