It never saw the light of day due to unspecified technical issues, now a purported Apple AirPower wireless charging mat appears unveiled in a Chinese video
Not every Apple product has been a sales success and a technological masterpiece. Apple’s QuickTake digital camera, the Macintonsh Portable, and the 2007 Apple Bluetooth headset are the most famous examples of products that were introduced and then withdrawn from the market shortly thereafter. But there’s also an Apple product that didn’t even make it to the light of day, despite its announcement: it’s AirPower, Apple’s wireless charging mat.
In theory, it was supposed to be a revolutionary product, capable of simultaneously charging multiple different Apple devices (up to three, something not envisioned by the Qi standard on which the product was supposed to be based), even with different voltages such as iPhones, AirPods and Apple Watch. Fu pre-annunciato a settembre 2017, ma nessuno lo ha mai visto realmente: invece di arrivare a inizio 2018 come previsto, infatti, fu più volte rinviato fino ad essere ufficialmente cancellato a marzo 2019. Il motivo era semplice e Apple lo disse senza mezzi termini: non era in grado di raggiungere gli standard qualitativi minimi che si richiedono ad un prodotto Apple. In molti si sono chiesti nel tempo che cosa è andato storto in AirPower, perché non funzionava a dovere. Ora spunta un video cinese in cui sembra esserci la risposta.
Il vero problema di AirPower
Il video in questione è stato pubblicato sulla piattaforma cinese Bilibili ed è un classico filmato “teardown“, un video in cui si smonta (sostanzialmente distruggendolo) un prodotto fino all’osso per capire come è fatto dentro. What’s being disassembled, according to the video’s author, is just the inside of an AirPower mat: there’s no case to back it up, but there’s a full Apple-style motherboard and a Lightning connection.
On the opposite side of the motherboard is a layer of graphite and a protective plastic layer, underneath which there are as many as 14 magnetic coils for wireless charging, arranged in two layers, one above the other. This kind of design, according to the author of the video, would be the cause of the real problem of Apple AirPower: the overheating during the charging of devices, especially the Apple Watch, which, compared to other Apple devices, requires a higher charging voltage.
Apple AirPower: will it ever come?
In the video it is hinted that Apple may present a new version of its wireless charging mat later this fall. Which would mean that the ultimate AirPower could hit the market in early 2021. It should be pointed out, however, that not only has Apple yet to say any official word on the matter, but it’s not even certain that the device disassembled in this Chinese video is actually an AirPower prototype.