Magically tidy magnetic cables were a CES sleeper hit

While everyone is jazzed about the use of AI, self-stabilizing robots, and flashy mixed-reality glasses, on the show floor, we saw hordes of people excited over a new wave of magnetic cables that are preparing to launch.

An updated cable isn't exactly a flashy piece of tech, but it's a necessity for everyone. If there's a new evolution that makes them easier to cope with, we're all better for it.

Magnetic cables aren't wholly new. Supercalla came out with the first versions with visible external magnets years ago and has iterated on them since.

At CES 2024, we saw new versions hitting the market from Scosche, Rolling Square, and other lesser-known brands that are rocking a new design.

Rolling Square magnetic cable

These new USB-C cables have soft, nylon weaving around the outside that obscures the magnetic magic that hides within. The woven exterior is also more durable.

Original Supercalla magnetic cable

Supercalla cables have magnets positioned at different intervals which controlled the size of the coils you could make. These new cables have magnets all the way through, adjusting to any size coils that makes sense for you.

There is one downside with these new designs though, which is speed. Currently, most cables we saw were limited to only 60W of power.

Scosche Strikeline Cobra magnetic cable

Scosche and Rolling Square assured AppleInsider that these were only the initial products and they'd have 100W versions launching very soon.

It's comical watching the reactions of the passersby at CES when they're entirely unimpressed with AI-powered grills, but they stop and stare at a USB-C cable with hidden magnets.

The Scosche Strikeline Cobra will launch this spring, in black and white in 3ft and 6ft versions. Rolling Square will hit the market with equivalent cables. Pricing for both lines has not been released.

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14 Comments

Anilu_777 576 comments · 8 Years

About 9 months ago

I like this! I need long cables most of the time but other times they’re a pain. This would be handy for me. And I don’t care about fast charging as I mostly charge overnight.

entropys 4288 comments · 13 Years

What a good idea.

exceptionhandler 377 comments · 13 Years

It's comical watching the reactions of the passersby at CES when they're entirely unimpressed with AI-powered grills, but they stop and stare at a USB-C cable with hidden magnets.
This. It’s such a good idea (magnetic cables) and solves a common immediate problem. AI (eg ML) on the other hand, while improving, is more of a solution looking for a problem. Don’t get me wrong, ML is really cool and can be useful sometimes, but we are kind of in the same stage with GPT as IoT was/is (let’s slap a wifi and a cpu on everything to do “smart” things without thinking about does it solve a problem for people). An AI powered grill sounds gimmicky and kinda falls into this category.

Im buying some magnetic cables next time I need a cable.

A lot of gear has software labelled AI which in reality is just iterative improvements. Like a ratchet tightening a nut. Too much marketing, not actual smarts.

macgui 2438 comments · 17 Years

AI said:
There is one downside with these new designs though, which is speed. Currently, most cables we saw were limited to only 60W of power... Scosche and Rolling Square assured AppleInsider that these were only the initial products and they'd have 100W versions launching very soon.
This talks about two different metrics – speed and power. Care to show the relationship in numbers? What speeds might be expected from a "60W" cable versus a "100W" cable"? I'd appreciate some clarity.