Apple cancels AirPower, its hugely anticipated wireless charging mat for iPhone
Charger did not meet its standards, company says after more than a year of waiting
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Apple has cancelled its AirPower charging mat, perhaps its most anticipated unreleased product.
The charger was intended as a way of charging an iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods all at once. But after more than a year of trying, the company said the device could not be made in a way that met its standards.
AirPower was first announced in 2017, when Apple said it would be available soon. Since then, it has hardly been mentioned at all, though glimpses of it occasionally appeared in other products’ documentation.
Amid that silence, rumours repeatedly suggested the charging mat was proving harder than expected to manufacture, but also that it could be available soon. Now Apple says it has been cancelled, a year and a half after it was first unveiled.
“After much effort, we’ve concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards and we have cancelled the project.
“We apologise 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,” said Apple head of hardware engineering in a statement to TechCrunch.
Rumours from inside Apple’s supply chain suggested that it was proving difficult to put multiple charging coils into one pad, as was required to charge the various devices.
Most Qi charging pads can only power up one device at a time, and require that device to be precisely placed – but Apple has promised the mat would charge all three at once, with no problems.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments