CES 2025: Belkin Finally Made a Tripod for Its TikTok Creator Booth
Last year, Belkin, a frequent Apple collaborator, released what may be the most amazing phone stand ever, which acts as a human operator that will track and record your movements. Trick? Until now, the kit did not include a tripod.
The Belkin Auto-Tracking Stand Pro is a $150 motorized MagSafe phone charger that, in addition to providing standard 15W wireless charging, also works with Apple’s DockKit platform, swiveling 360 degrees and tilting 90 degrees to keep you covered at all times in the frame. Designed for streamers and vloggers, it can automatically follow you as you present or act out a scene, making it easy to film alone. (However, you can also use it casually, such as for a FaceTime call).
But at just under nine inches tall, its usability out of the box was severely limited. It’s great for tabletop shooting, but if your video requires you to stand up or move away from your phone microphones, it can be a little tricky to position. This made it difficult to sell to core influential audiences.
This issue can be worked around using third-party solutions since the stand has a standard tripod threaded hole on the bottom, but Belkin now offers a more official answer. Announced at CES this year, the Belkin Stage Creator Bundle complements the Auto-Tracking Stand Pro with a 5.6-foot tripod and a pair of portable clip-on microphones. It also comes with a magnetic phone mount, so technically you can still use the kit without the tracking stand, provided you don’t need your phone’s camera to follow you.
There’s no word yet on Android support, although that’s probably unlikely given that the tracking stand uses DockKit. Even if you put a MagSage sticker on your Android phone, it just won’t play well with its software.
Prices are unknown at this time, as are the specs for these clip-on microphones, as the kit is a bit behind in release. (It’s currently scheduled for May.) Still, even if it has to compete with third-party alternatives (tripods and wireless microphones aren’t exactly new), this kit will go a long way toward making Belkin’s motorized stand feel like a more complete product.
The Stage PowerGrip is also scheduled to be released in May, and pricing is also still awaited. This is more of a novelty as it is a MagSafe power bank which also makes your phone more like an instant camera. Rounding out the aesthetic (yes, it comes in multiple colors) is a knob for lining up shots, as well as a button for taking them, but instead of a camera viewfinder, you’ll find a small screen that displays the balance in the jar. battery percentage. Like some of Belkin’s other MagSafe power banks, you can also stand the PowerGrip upright to use it as a sort of phone stand, and it comes with a built-in USB-C cable for wired charging.
Belkin also has some products for CES 2025, prices for which have already been announced. In addition to the new BoostCharge Compact USB-C wall charger and the new 20,000mAh BoostCharge power bank and built-in USB-C cable, the BoostCharge Pro Magnetic Wireless Charging Pad is a small wireless charging pad that’s great for travel. This small, round charger connects to the back of your phone using MagSafe (or a MagSafe-style sticker) and is about as thick as a power bank, but takes up much less space overall. With a built-in stand, you can easily use it as a phone charger while on the go, propping up your phone at night so it can act as an alarm clock. The only catch? You’ll still have to connect its 6.6-foot USB-C cable to some kind of power source. Luckily, you can either get a power supply with your device or ditch it in favor of the power supply you already have, so you at least have options.
The BoostCharge Pro magnetic wireless charging pad will be available in the US in April and will cost you $20 without a power supply and $30 with one. If you want to use your own power source, the BoostCharge Compact USB-C charger is the way to go, launching in March for $30 and featuring a maximum output of 45W and one USB-C port. A 65W BoostCharge Compact version will also launch in March for $40, while the 20,000mAh BoostCharge Power Bank with built-in cable will hit shelves in April for $50. USB-powered products should work with any product that charges through a compatible port, and the BoostCharge Pro magnetic wireless charging pad will work with any Qi2-compatible device.