Apple reportedly once again working on AirPower charger, long-range wireless charging

Like many products which were cancelled close to release, Apple’s AirPower charger is a myth that refuses to die.

Announced back in 2017, the AirPower was a special mat designed to charge multiple devices without the need to plug them in.  Unfortunately, the charging mat faced problems with overheating, which was attributed to its dense arrangement of coils.  Around this time last year, Apple decided to abandon the idea, citing the fact that it couldn’t meet its own “high standards”.

In 2020 we heard that Apple was picking up the project once again.

AirPower isn’t dead ?

The project is back on, internally. No guarantee that they’ll finalize and release it, but they haven’t given up yet and they’re trying to re-engineer the coils to displace heat more effectively. Prototyping is underway.

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— jon prosser (@jon_prosser) March 22, 2020

Not much came of that rumour, but now more reliable Apple informant, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, also confirmed the project has been revived.

The new device would support both the iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch.

Apple’s plans are however even more ambitious, with the company investigating “short and long distance wireless charging devices” including a future where all of its major devices can charge each other. “Imagine an iPad charging an ?iPhone? and then that ?iPhone? charging AirPods or an Apple Watch,” adds Gurman.

Apple’s ambition appears to stretch beyond reverse wireless charging, which is now common in Android devices, and which exists in embryonic form in the iPhone, which can change a MagSafe battery wirelessly.

It remains to be seen if Apple’s plans will pan out better than the original AirPower, which itself suffered from being too ambitious.

via Macrumors.