Images and a video allegedly showing a teardown of AirPower, Apple’s multi-device wireless charger that was canceled before it launched, came to light Friday.
The video was posted on the Chinese website Bilibili. It was discovered by noted Apple leaker Mr-white, who put a number of pictures of the device on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/laobaitd/status/1296837238265847809?s=21
The AirPower wireless charger would have been able to charge three devices at once. Hence the proliferation of charging coils inside this device.
And it would have been able to handle not just iPhone but also AirPods with wireless cases Apple Watches. Apple’s smartwatch can’t receive power from standard wireless chargers made by other companies.
The rise and fall of Apple AirPower wireless charger
Apple unveiled AirPower with much fanfare at its iPhone X keynote in September 2017. Then nothing more was said about it for almost two years.
The next official mention was when the company admitted defeat on the product in March 2019. Dan Riccio, Apple’s SVP of hardware engineering, said at the time, “We’ve concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards and we have canceled the project.”
No specific reasons were ever given for dropping the project. However, unconfirmed reports during development indicated Apple engineers struggled with heat management problems from packing so many coils so tightly together. Also, getting Apple Watch and AirPods cases to communicate with the charger was supposedly causing difficulties.
But AirPower may yet rise from the ashes of defeat. Reliable Apple prognosticator Ming-Chi Kuo said earlier this year that the wireless charging mat could be out this year.
