AirPower is canceled but remains in Apple’s plans. The anniversary of the farewell to AirPower has just passed: on March 29 four years ago the project was cancelled, but something similar is said to have remained among Apple’s long-term projects.
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It was announced alongside the iPhone X in 2017 and looked revolutionary at the time: a mat that had the ability to wirelessly charge three devices simultaneously – iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods – no matter where they were placed. The company said it would arrive in 2018, but as history reminds us it never happened and in the end, as rarely happens when it comes to Apple, the project was abandoned.
«After many efforts we have concluded that AirPower does not meet our high standards and we have canceled the project» said the former head of hardware Dan Riccio: «we continue to believe that the future is wireless and we are committed to carrying on this experience d ‘use”. However, Apple never said what exactly was the reason, but it is believed that the overlapping charging coils lead to overheating.
When is AirPower coming?
In the October newsletter, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman said he still believes an AirPower-like accessory “will eventually come to fruition,” but it could take years.
After four years, however, the delay begins to be important, especially since there are now various equally capable and functional alternatives on the market: the latest in chronological order is Tesla’s Qi base, but Xiaomi and Nomad have also already marketed their own alternatives, without forgetting AirUnleashed and Zen Liberty which arrived just a year after Apple’s official farewell. Even Google a few days ago patented its wireless charger with moving coil that lines up perfectly under the device to be recharged.
What do we have today?
Meanwhile, the only multi-device charging mat Apple sells is the MagSafe Duo Charger, but it only works with two devices at the same time and the charging placement is fixed.