Apple’s AirPower wireless charger was introduced way back in 2017 with the iPhone X and was planned to wirelessly charge the iPhone, Apple Watch and the Air pods altogether. The product, however, was recently reported to be cancelled and meant that the wireless charging mat was no longer in production. This news has been circling around the web for quite some time and the internet has blown up with remarks about this move by Apple.
The wireless mat stood to provide innovation in the wireless charging department and focussed on bringing a more cleaner experience to Apple users. Housing all three of the Apple products that supported wireless charging in one go and integrating the software accordingly, the Apple AirPower was considered to be the future of wireless charging.
The project was cancelled in a hurry and this can be speculated from the fact that various leaks suggested that the new iOS update did have support for the wireless charging mat in its code. Moreover, the new Air Pods do in fact have a diagram of the AirPower charger on the box which states that the cancellation was indeed unexpected.
The project was expected to release in 2018 but was delayed and was then expected to release later this year but the news of its cancellation has saddened enthusiasts. Craig Lloyd from iFixit cleverly explains what could have gone wrong for Apple in this case.
He explains that wireless charging itself works on the basic principles of electromagnetic induction. Both the charger and the device consist of a coil which when in contact with another coil induce current and charge the batteries. This whole phenomenon however comes with a price and that is heat and electromagnetic disturbance. While FCC rules and regulations for wireless chargers are already so strict, Apple here was planning on taking wireless chargers on a larger scale. Having a bigger and better wireless chargers would mean that there was a bigger coil fitted inside the product or a greater number of small coils were fitted for it to operate effectively. Unfortunately though, having more coils would only mean more trouble and more frequency disturbance which could trigger everyday products to malfunction and interfere with them.
Unfortunately for Apple, there was no other alternative to having such a product and ultimately they had to cancel it since it couldn’t bypass the rules and regulations in the EU or the US. While the dream for a perfect Apple wireless charger is broken, not all hope is lost and we hope that Apple does
