AirPower is Dead

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Apple first revealed AirPower in September of 2017. Now, a year and a half later, Apple has announced that the AirPower wireless charging mat will never release. The AirPower is dead. The charging mat was supposed to wirelessly charge your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods at the same time. However, with the release of the AirPods 2 and the AirPods wireless charging case, Apple must have finally given up. AirPower would never be ready.

What happened? Apple hasn’t said exactly why they decided to axe their long overdue charging pad. However, it sounds like they were never able to get it to work right. Turns out it might have been too ambitious for Apple.

Apple’s Axing

“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.”

– Dan Riccio, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering

Apple says the AirPower couldn’t achieve Apple’s high standards. But what does that actually mean? Why did Apple cancel the AirPower after over a year long delay? The answer is a problem electrical engineers and hardware engineers have faced for decades, the classical enemy of engineering: heat.

Qi wireless charging, like that used in the iPhone, Apple Watch, and now AirPods, isn’t without its downsides. The process of sending electricity through non-conductive materials (air, your devices, the charger itself) takes more electricity than ends up in your device. The power that doesn’t get to your device’s battery doesn’t just disappear. It becomes heat. The charger traps heat, and the charging process also heats up your devices on the receiving end. As a result, wireless chargers can get quite warm, and often come with heat safeties, so they shut off if they’re getting too hot.

The AirPower would have required at least three wireless coils. It’s possible that Apple could have tried to ensure that each spot on the mat had a wide charging area, so it could have had six coils. Such an alignment would be insane. Most chargers, even those with a wide charging area, have only two coils. Even the AirPower knockoffs that have released haven’t tried this, and they likely have lower standards for heat and durability.

I personally cannot remember a time Apple announced a product that they did not release. Neither can other bloggers. This seems to be a first for Apple.

UPDATE:

As it turns out, Apple may have been trying to put as much as 32 coils in the AirPower. This would have made the entire mat not only very hot, but likely disruptive. The coils could have generated considerable electromagnetic interference.

How Embarrassing

Apple showed the AirPower off before they had a working prototype. They just assumed they would be able to solve the heat problems. You could say Apple flew too close to the sun with AirPower and fell further than ever. AirPower was something the company drummed up. It was in iOS, accidentally revealed on the website numerous times, and Apple even put the AirPower on the new AirPods wireless charging cases. Now a permanent reminder that Apple’s hubris lead them to look foolish sits on the box of every AirPods box.

It’s not like people save their Apple boxes to later transport, sell, or trade in their products down the road (they do).

Third Party Options

I feel as though my iPhone is just a little too thick with Apple’s Smart Battery Case. I often take the case off when I’m at work, using my iPhone in the nude. It’s especially rebellious, because I’m an Android developer flaunting her iPhone.

I usually charge my Smart Battery Case with a Lightning cable, putting my iPhone XS on a wireless charging stand. However, I’m planning on getting the wireless charging case for my AirPods. I would have a desk with four items that need charging. The AirPower would have been a great solution for me.

However, after the AirPower didn’t release alongside the AirPods 2, I assumed the project was canceled. I recently got some nice wood and resin bracelets from a company whose products I’ve reviewed before, Carved. The design really does look lovely, and the fact that their products are hand made, unique, and done by a small, personal company is really endearing. So, when I went to buy another wireless charger for my desk, I got their wood and resin wireless charger. Because the items are hand made, it’ll take some time to arrive, and even more time for me to test it, but I’m confident that I’ll like it a lot. Here’s a coupon code for 10% you order, if you’d like something from Carved.

Maybe you want something that’s more like the AirPower? There’s something like this Choetech wireless charger, which has three coils, so you can place your phone on it in just about any way. However, it won’t charge three devices. This one from that company can charge two devices though. I use this company’s wireless chargers at home and at my office, and they’ve worked well for me. You could also try something like this three way charging mat, with three separate charging coils. It’s not as elegant as AirPower, but it’ll do the trick.

None of these measure up to the promise that Apple made about their AirPower, and there’s a simple reason for that: physics.

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Sources:

• TimHardwick, MacRumors
• Buster Hein, Cult of Mac
• Nathan Ingraham, Engadget
• Matthew Panzarino, TechCrunch