“Apple has canceled the AirPower product completely, citing difficulty meeting its own standards,” Matthew Panzarino reports for TechCrunch. “‘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,’ said Dan Riccio, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering in an emailed statement today.”
“After a delay of over a year since it was first announced in September of 2017, the AirPower charging mat has become something of a focal point for Apple’s recent habit of announcing envelope tickling products and not actually shipping them on time,” Panzarino reports. “Along with recent MacBook keyboard troubles, this has functioned as a sort of flash point over discussion that something isn’t right with Apple’s hardware processes.”
“I’ve heard that they ran too hot because the 3D charging coils in close proximity to one another required very, very cautious power management,” Panzarino reports. “The project was apparently canceled so recently that boxes of the new AirPod cases even have pictures of AirPower on them and the new AirPod sets have mentions of AirPower.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Finally.
1 year, 6 months, and 18 days after it was fecklessly announced, AirPower meets its ignominious end.
We suggest exploring Anker’s array of wireless chargers. For Apple Watch, specifically, we love our original Mac-shaped elago W3 Stands!
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s AirPower to launch late this month, supply chain sources say – March 22, 2019
Apple secures rights to AirPower trademark – March 21, 2019
New AirPower image alongside iPhone XS appears within Apple’s website code – March 21, 2019
Will we see Apple announce AirPower, new iPod touch before week’s end? – March 20, 2019
Apple has approved production of AirPower wireless-charging mat – March 20, 2019
Apple’s iOS 12.2 beta 6 includes AirPower support – March 20, 2019
Apple unveils AirPower charging mat to simultaneously charge your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods; coming ‘next year’ – September 12, 2017
No loss. There are hundreds of wireless chargers on the market.
I have a charging stand for the bedside tablet. Worked for 2 years now. Put the phone on the stand when go to bed. Can see the screen if a message comes in and can easily pick it up in the dark. Nigh on perfect for my need.
But Apple’s was pre-determined by some to be best! Winning and all…
Now we’re stuck with stupidchargers.
Hmmmm….
20 to 30 coils would generate heat, and you can’t just make it bigger without adding coils, but….
They can’t have the coils detect the device and have only the closest activate?
My guess is that the coils were either overlapped or close enough together that even if only one of the coils was “on,” the others could still “load” onto the magnetic field generated. So you end up with one coil trying to charge the device, and the nearest 5 – 8 inactive coils.
Interestingly, I remember on the Qi website references to multi coil charging mats from about 10 years ago. Don’t see it anymore!
Good thought, but with gated switches on all coils, there would be no way for inactive coils to have inductive current, just the active ones.
I am on my third MacBook Air – the keyboards on the first two did not work properly. I have never been more disappointed with Apple.
Id much rather see them pull it than release a product that can potentially be problematic!
The problem though was the premature announcement.. why even go there if u dont know if u can pull it off. What was the gain..?….Nada.. just made them look bad now!
Except this should not be that difficult. It’s already out by several others.
Would that mean Apple’s version actually didn’t meet up to the capabilities of what is already out in terms of at least safety?
Or put differently… couldn’t capitalize on other’s mistakes.
Really? What product that is actually released can charge an iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods? Is there even a pad that can charge the watch and either of the other devices?
For one…
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-duo-12w-qi-certified-fast-charge-wireless-charging-pad-black/6326959.p?skuId=6326959
But a bit more comprehensive…
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3307524/16-multi-device-wireless-chargers-to-rival-apples-still-missing-airpower.html
Yes, there are devices to charge Samsung phones and watches, and there are stands that incorporate both a Qi-pad for an iPhone and a separate Apple Watch charger. That is not what the AirPower was. To repeat, there is no actually shipping device that will allow charging an iPhone, AirPods, and an Apple Watch on the same surface.
Is Apple not Qi?
Can you not put the EarPods in a case and charge them both?
Is Apple Watch not Qi also?
Does Computer world not know what their talking about?
To be more specific, the idea with airpower was that you could place them anywhere on the surface, and a coil would be close enough to charge them. I think there are pads that have 3 places for devices… but they must be placed in the correct position.
Is there a multi-coil wireless charger out there that can charge 3 different type of devices at the same time that is actually usable and has good ratings..??
I see a few on Amazon.. but they are either restricted to 2 phones only or have terrible ratings as ” useless , does not function properly”.. etc
If you know of one please let me know.. i would like to check it out.
If a real functional multi coil and multi device wirless charger exits out there and yet Apple could not pull off their own…. id be dumbfounded !!!
3 at the same time, it seems not.
Actually, what Apple announced does not exist. Other manufacturers glued multiple wireless chargers together and said they did what Apple couldn’t. You have to place the device in exactly the correct spot and it has a specific number of devices it can charge and they must be only the devices they planned for. Apple’s charger was a mat that any device could be put on, in any place or orientation and the mat would specifically use exact coils to charge that device to its specific needs. This would most likely require devices to have new chips in them as well as new intelligence added to the mat via the Qi standard that does not exist. That simple mat represents a HUGE leap forward in charging technology that DOES NOT EXIST. So yes, you can go buy a mat from someone else but you will have to put specific devices in specific areas or nothing works.
Okay then…
It still does not exist, must have run out of magic.
Because of your auto-defensive reflex, you miss the point. You cannot defend the indefensible.
Apple brought revolutionary products to market for over 40 years now. Apple is the richest and most successful company in history. Apple has the most resources, scale and talent than any company in HISTORY.
And they can’t make a charging pad better than what’s already available, seriously? What Apple can successfully make under Cook is EXCUSES.
That said, I do agree 100% they made themselves look BAD, VERY BAD…
But you don’t understand, people need their monitors, their wireless access points, their wireless chargers, their EVERYTHING made by Apple!! WHAT EVER WILL THEY DO!
Jobs would never have announced it, but then, cook is no Jobs, but at least Cook is an incompetent.
You clearly don’t remember the white iPhone 4 which was about a year late. How about G5 laptops which never appeared? Maybe you are too young to remember MobileMe.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/149481/MobileMe.html
Steve was great, but not perfect. I’d rather that Apple tried to make this and failed rather than have never tried at all.
G4 cube. First titanium laptop.
These were announced and took a long time to ship.
For the majority of products apple are way better at delivering than in the late 90s and early part of 2000s.
Nice try fanboy, but no. Two words: Mac Pro. I could go on under Cook but the epic failure point has been made.
Yes, the cube was a failure but at least it SHIPPED. I loved the titanium laptop and it lasted over 10 years meeting its demise in May 2018.
Now Cook has taken Apple to where no man has gone before… vaporware!
Making excuses does not help Apple and certainly does not SHIP…
“You clearly don’t remember the white iPhone 4 which was about a year late.”
You clearly don’t remember the HomePod that was much later than a year. Nor the iMacs for Christmas that were unavailable and excoriated by MDN and many others. Nor the greatest debacle in Apple history — five years and 4 months with ZERO upgrades to the founding flagship product that BUILT Apple. Kept it afloat during the tumultuous times when Mikey and front page headlines were calling for Apple to shut down and return money to shareholders.
Get a grip…
But… You can get a credit card!
And you can pay for news to look at ads for magazines!
Exactly!
Pathetic. Go to Samsung.com and look at their wireless charging mat for their phones and watches. And you can charge their AirPod ripoffs by setting them on the new phones.
Apple and innovation – forever separated under Tim Cook’s reign.
Wait, What…………. WOW ?
You mean to tell me Pipeline Timmy and the plethora of Apple Vice Presidents are/were unable to make this happen. Say it isn’t so.
But hey, we’re getting some outstanding news, television and misc services……… “This Fall”
Hardware be Damned.
And this is why you NEVER mention a beta product until you’ve confirmed it’s a shippable item. Piss poor amateurish action on the part of Apple to even mention stuff that’s NOT ready for prime time. Tim, don’t let that happen again.
Btw Timmy, don’t let this new Mac Pro (vaporware) and the new Apple display suffer the same fate. Until a product is ready to ship the afternoon it’s announced, STFU!
All of that money and power and they couldn’t make it work? I guess there’s always more stock buybacks.
Are they really wireless? You have to plug the mat in?
Even if you install what you are refering too, it still needs to be wired to power. But hey! It will be immobile!
As Hooters says…
“Delightfully tacky, yet unrefined!”
Steve Jobs could have built a charger that didn’t require outside power. I never plugged in my G5 PowerBook!
Having trouble with the sarcasm. Did Jobs MAGICALLY violate the Law of Conservation of Energy?
On the phone…
Somebody call Stockholm!
No not the Syndrome, the Nobel Committee.
What do you mean it can’t be granted posthumously?!
😉
People here seem to think that Saint Steve could work miracles. I never once plugged in my G5 PowerBook because it was cancelled a couple of years after The Infallible One announced it. There were heat management issues, just like the charging pad.
Told you I had trouble with the sarcasm!
I find your “Saint Steve” comment snide and extremely condescending. You just mocked the historic Titan of tech standing shoulders alongside other titans the likes of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and many other creative geniuses who all changed the world. Without Steve, Apple would not exist and Cook would not be hired and promoted to CEO, again, all because of the GODLY “Saint Steve.”
Get a grip…
My point was that any long-term Apple customer can list multiple products like the PowerBook G5 that were announced by Steve Jobs that never made it out of beta, and others that either shipped very late or were so flawed that they should never have shipped at all.
His reputation has benefited from the passage of time and the fact that he did not have to ship products to hundreds of millions of customers who each have the power to launch an Internet meme.
Steve Jobs was not infallible. He died younger than he should have, in part because he ignored medical advice. He made mistakes with the company, too. That is not to say that he was not a great man, but only that he was human, not GODLY in a violate-the-First-Commandment sense. The standard that the “Fire Tim Cook!” crowd are applying would condemn any human being, decidedly including Steve Jobs.
Your point was EXCUSE DEFLECTION GRANDE.
Here is my point AGAIN that you totally IGNORED:
“I find your “Saint Steve” comment snide and extremely condescending. You just mocked the historic Titan of tech standing shoulders alongside other titans the likes of Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and many other creative geniuses who all changed the world.”
Crickets :::: is UNACCEPTABLE! An apology for snide mocking of the genuis founder of Apple is not too much to ask. I have time to wait for an apology…
No loss for me, but an embarrassing fumble. I wish the effort had been put into a new line of AirPort routers. The third-party alternatives are ugly and unintuitive.
Omor, take a hard look at the Amplfi HD. After Apple abandoned the home wifi solution scene, I bought their system and it works great.
I am sure it is a good unit, but the descriptions and comments on Amazon are cryptic, with references to PoE, Cloudkey,AP etc. With my Apple’s AirPort I just plugged it into my cable modem and a wall socket and I was good to go. It provided good connectivity through the 2,800 sq. ft. house.
WiFi networking, displays, pro-level computers, pro software, the education market, small light phones, wireless chargers, cases for the XR. All products Apple has abandoned or not developed. I’ve probably missed some.
Apple has canceled the ………..
Mac Pro
product completely?
but to compensate they have released a new emoji for the Apple Watch Sark
Let’s review.
Apple Lisa
Apple III
Apple E-World
Apple QuickTake 100 camera
Apple Portable
Apple Pippin
Apple Newton
Macintosh TV
Apple Hockey Puck Mouse
20th Anniversary Mac
Apple eMate
Power Mac G4 Cube
Apple HiFi
Siri
HomePod? (Jury still out but not looking good)
All pretty terrible products in one way or another… yet Steve and yes even Tim managed to build on successes until they created the most valuable company in history. We don’t measure bands by their failures.. if we did then “What’s the New Mary Jane” should have doomed the Beatles and the entire “Victim of Love” disco album by Elton John should have destroyed his career.
Failed products come and go and Apple has had more than its fair share I would guess.. but they seem to be doing just fine.
And remember Apple’s DNA is HARDWARE. Much of their software is pretty junky and lame (and I LOVE Apple) from Numbers (seriously who uses this professionally?) to Pages (Not actually a very usable layout tool) and even some of their professional level stuff like Motion for video graphics..long ago outstripped by other better tools.. So.. don’t fret too much about Apple. I’m glad they try new stuff and say no to the stuff that doesn’t work. They should probably just go on a buying spree and get Anker, Paramount, and Bose and integrate them all. Then people would sit up and take notice, drive the stock price up and buy their well developed products. Holy crap.. they bought BEATS after all and it was nothing special.
No way does Homepod belong on that list. The only problem with Homepods is the $$ price for a pair. They are great products just cost too much
Apple is a mess. This product from origination was pretty unimportant in the scheme of things but two of announced it to years ago and now come out and say that it doesn’t meet their standards is pretty humiliating. Imagine the companies that will read this build one and sell it now on Amazon. Apple just look ridiculous. This just goes along with this shitty ass new keyboards.
And a delinquent Mac Pro years overdue with similar apologies. They need to call themselves Apple Apologists Inc. now.
Yewbetcha! Applecynics, Inc. is taken!
Apparently Apple’s Airpower has more in common with passing wind and the whole thing stinks appropriately.
way to go, Tim
you got this – someone call Fortune – put this man on the cover!
I think this is positive. Apple still has the guts to cancel a product. I would have thought them to be further downhill.
How can Samsung do it and Apple can’t?
They can’t. Samsung’s cannot do what Air Power was going to do: allow device to be placed and oriented anywhere on the pad. This is not simple feat.
AirPower workers = 1
Emoji workers = 1000
No wonder they can’t get nothing out!
The one and only reason I would have ever considered buying an overpriced Qi charging mat is if Apple built it on top of the new, cutting edge, meshing Airport.
If the “future is wireless”, then Apple looks like they are falling drastically behind the competition. Amazon and Google are pushing into home networking in a big way, and Apple is nowhere to be found.
I have been saying for years, Tim Cook’s largest failure is the lack of: announcing – releasing – shipping – reporting financial is ONE quarter. He has lacked in all 4 categories.
Apple can come up with a product like the 12” MacBook, iPad Pro, facial recognition and Ear Pods and yet they can’t come up with a silly charging device???? My nephew gave me a Yootech charger last year and it charges my iPhone X perfectly. No hotspots, no hot battery, no overcharging. It just works. Kinda like a theoretical Apple product should 🤔
Real artists ship. – Steve Jobs
Reminds me of the “New MacPro” (shipping never)
You could say Apple, Inc. (artist) lost its muse (Jobs).
This is exactly what starts to happen when a companies CEO is a Feckless Can’t Understand Normal Thinking, twit.
Job’s not only expected the best from himself but from everybody else in Apple. Sure he was an asshole, but he was our asshole.
Pipeline Timmy “When only mediocrity will do”
Think Different
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
-Steve Jobs, 1997
http://viewpure.com/mtftHaK9tYY?start=0&end=0
“Can’t innovate wireless chargers, my ass!” – Phil
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