Apple originally unveiled the AirPower alongside the iPhone X in September 2017. Unlike many of the other wireless charging mats available at the time,
The AirPower promised to be able to accommodate multiple devices in any orientation at the same time. This was credited to the 22 individual charging coils inside the mat alternating electromagnetic induction, emitting and receiving electromagnetic waves in both the charger and the device to power the device’s battery.
Front Page Tech founder Jon Prosser, in particular, has championed the return of the Apple AirPower in 2020, tweeting that the “AirPower isn’t dead” back in March. Prosser revealed that the project is back on internally, though there is no guarantee that Apple will release the final product.
Since March, we’ve heard more leaks and rumours about the AirPower, including images of the supposed device. Read on for everything we know about the Apple-branded wireless charging mat.
Why was the Apple AirPower cancelled?
The charging mat dropped off the radar – and Apple’s website – after the iPhone X event until March 2019, when Senior VP of Hardware Engineering Dan Riccio released the following statement.
“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”.
A number of reports suggested that Apple faced technical challenges when designing the AirPower and that overheating was a major obstacle for the charging mat that may have led to its cancellation.
Three years on and it looks like Apple may have resolved these issues and is ready for a (belated) release.
This news was originally published at trustedreviews.com