Apple No Longer Releasing AirPower Wireless Charger

Cites Failure to Meet “High Standards” as Reason

Apple has now officially scrapped plans to release their wireless charging mat called ‘AirPower’. The company cites difficulty to reach their own high standards as the reason.

The wireless charging mat was originally announced back in September 2017. Not that delays are not abnormal with Apple. After all, AirPods did not come out on time either. This is especially true for products that can be very challenging in terms of engineering. Sometimes, Apple’s team can over come it, but in the case of the AirPower, it appears that they cannot.

Why is Apple Cancelling the AirPower?

“After much effort, we’ve concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards and we have cancelled the project,” says Dan Riccio, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering in a statement. “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.”

Some analysts believe that the slim design of the charging mat presents problems which are very tough to overcome from an engineering standpoint. The heat in particular due to the 3D charging coils in close proximity to one another. These of course require delicate power management to be effective.

Other than the dangers of damaging the charger itself, the product can cause larger problems when unattended. So it is a safer move to just take the PR hit now and cancel it, than face a lawsuit down the road.