Apple cancels AirPower wireless charging mat, citing quality issues
Apple has dropped the axe on the AirPower mat, for reasons as of yet unknown, and will not produce the device.
Phil Schiller offering a sneak peak at the AirPower charging pad back in 2017
Apple Senior Vice President Dan Riccio made the announcement in a statement to AppleInsider and other venues on Friday afternoon.
What appeared to be a leak of the AirPods packaging included a drawing of what was clearly an AirPower charger. Yet, that graphic was not present on the shipping AirPods that AppleInsider examined.
Neither AirPods nor iPhones require Apple's own wireless charger as they can work with any Qi system. The Apple Watch, however, does need either AirPower or the wireless charging puck that the watch ships with.
It isn't presently clear what specific part of the AirPower was causing problems. The AirPower mat was more than a trio of charging coils, and appeared to utilize a series of cooperative flux generators to charge a device after locating it on the pad in software, which likely led to complications in design and manufacture.
Apple's hands-on demonstration from 2017 showed this in-action, and AppleInsider was able to put multiple devices anywhere on the pad, in any order. After doing so, the AirPower was communicating with the charging devices, and the iPhone on the pad was displaying information about the other charging devices.
Apple wiped mention of the AirPower from its website in September during the iPhone XS launch, and didn't mention it at all during that presentation.
AppleInsider has reached out to Apple for comment on specific reasons why the AirPower was cancelled.
With AirPower officially dead, customers waiting for a first-party multi-device wireless charging solution from Apple are out of luck. AppleInsider rounded up the best alternatives to the product that never was, including a few single-device chargers so good they should not be overlooked.
Phil Schiller offering a sneak peak at the AirPower charging pad back in 2017
Apple Senior Vice President Dan Riccio made the announcement in a statement to AppleInsider and other venues on Friday afternoon.
This cancellation of AirPower comes around 19 months after Apple gave a 'sneak peek' of it at the September 2017 iPhone event. Problems with design and manufacturing have previously seen mention of AirPower all but removed from Apple's website so at times it was rumored to be cancelled. Persistent rumors and even a hidden image on Apple's site appeared to suggest it would be launched alongside the AirPods.After much effort, we've concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards and we have cancelled the project. We apologize to those customers who were looking forward to this launch. We continue to believe that the future is wireless and are committed to push the wireless experience forward.
What appeared to be a leak of the AirPods packaging included a drawing of what was clearly an AirPower charger. Yet, that graphic was not present on the shipping AirPods that AppleInsider examined.
Neither AirPods nor iPhones require Apple's own wireless charger as they can work with any Qi system. The Apple Watch, however, does need either AirPower or the wireless charging puck that the watch ships with.
It isn't presently clear what specific part of the AirPower was causing problems. The AirPower mat was more than a trio of charging coils, and appeared to utilize a series of cooperative flux generators to charge a device after locating it on the pad in software, which likely led to complications in design and manufacture.
Apple's hands-on demonstration from 2017 showed this in-action, and AppleInsider was able to put multiple devices anywhere on the pad, in any order. After doing so, the AirPower was communicating with the charging devices, and the iPhone on the pad was displaying information about the other charging devices.
Apple wiped mention of the AirPower from its website in September during the iPhone XS launch, and didn't mention it at all during that presentation.
AppleInsider has reached out to Apple for comment on specific reasons why the AirPower was cancelled.
With AirPower officially dead, customers waiting for a first-party multi-device wireless charging solution from Apple are out of luck. AppleInsider rounded up the best alternatives to the product that never was, including a few single-device chargers so good they should not be overlooked.
Comments
Now I need to return my wireless-charing AirPods for the normal...if a mat can't do all three devices it isn't worth it to me.
Such is life. We learn by doing, and sometimes by failing. In no way would I chastise Apple over it, other than being optimistic when they pre-announced of course. I'm sure they won't do that again for a long while.
I wonder if they'll go back to the old favourite of only announcing things that are ready to ship the same day.
Dunno, I've launched real-world products before and have experienced the trials & tribulations, and the disappointment when the mass produced product doesn't match how we envisioned it when things are perfect inside our head alone. Real life is funny like that...but what can you do? So perhaps I have a little more engineering empathy and a little less entitlement about these sorts of things compared to what im sure we'll be reading. Agreed that it's disappointing tho, for sure.
It's disappointing for those who were waiting on the product won't actually get it but it really isn't a big deal whichever way you look at it.
The probjrm here for Apple was the early announcement. Be interesting to know who pushed that.
For once we agree.
It's not a personal attack, or aggressive, or immature, in the slightest. I pointed out the bizarre position that feeling entitled to the product makes the real-life engineering failure "ridiculous". It doesn't. These are not easy feats, despite how magical they seem to use.
For me, the solution is the Anker wired charger with one USB-C output for my iPad Pro and four lightning outputs for my iPhone and the Apple watch puck.
Outside the home in a coffee place, placing your iPhone on a mat without wires is fine but for home use, wireless charging is unnecessary. That is my opinion but I would be interested in seeing comments on this subject.