Having been in both situations, I'm pretty certain the magsocket has saved more in avoiding damages than I could reasonably expect to lose on those that are alr

Having been in both situations, I'm pretty certain the magsocket has saved more in avoiding damages than I could reasonably expect to lose on those that are already battery-dead. And if it's a permanent failure, epoxy or sugru or something will probably serve you just as well. I don't know if Apple hold significant patents on the idea, because I'd absolutely love to see it applied to other connectors, especially headphones and wired ethernet leads.