Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Apple Officially Cancels AirPower
Apple today canceled AirPower, the charging mat that it first announced in 2017, because of an inability to meet its high standards for hardware, reports TechCrunch.
AirPower was designed to charge the Apple Watch, iPhone, and AirPods all at once, but after Apple announced the device in 2017, there were persistent rumors of difficulties and no product ever launched. Apple says work on the product has been canceled entirely because the company has been unable to achieve what it was aiming for with the AirPower.
"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 a statement provided to TechCrunch.
AirPower was introduced in September 2017 alongside the iPhone X, and at the time, Apple said it would launch in 2018. 2018 came and went with no sign of AirPower and no word from Apple on when it would materialize.
There were, however, continual rumors of production, engineering, and manufacturing difficulties. Rumors suggested that there were problems with heat management, inter-device communication, and interference because Apple wanted to design a charging device where you could put an iPhone, Apple Watch, or AirPods anywhere on the mat to charge.
This required layering multiple charging coils, resulting in a device that ran too hot, which turned out to be an engineering issue Apple couldn't solve.
AirPower was supposed to work with the Wireless Charging Case for the AirPods that was released last week, and it was also meant to charge Apple Watch Series 3 and 4 models and all iPhones that support Qi-based wireless charging. With Apple having released the AirPods Charging Case just recently, there was speculation that an AirPower launch was imminent.
The cancelation of AirPower comes as a shock as there have been continual signs that the product was still in the works. AirPower mentions were still included on the newly launched AirPods Charging Case, and Apple recently secured a trademark for the AirPower name. There have also been ongoing rumors of a spring launch, so it appears that Apple worked for months on AirPower solutions before ultimately deciding to nix the project.
Ending work on a project that was already announced and shown off is unprecedented in Apple's recent history.
AirPower was designed to charge the Apple Watch, iPhone, and AirPods all at once, but after Apple announced the device in 2017, there were persistent rumors of difficulties and no product ever launched. Apple says work on the product has been canceled entirely because the company has been unable to achieve what it was aiming for with the AirPower.
"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 a statement provided to TechCrunch.
AirPower was introduced in September 2017 alongside the iPhone X, and at the time, Apple said it would launch in 2018. 2018 came and went with no sign of AirPower and no word from Apple on when it would materialize.
There were, however, continual rumors of production, engineering, and manufacturing difficulties. Rumors suggested that there were problems with heat management, inter-device communication, and interference because Apple wanted to design a charging device where you could put an iPhone, Apple Watch, or AirPods anywhere on the mat to charge.
This required layering multiple charging coils, resulting in a device that ran too hot, which turned out to be an engineering issue Apple couldn't solve.
AirPower was supposed to work with the Wireless Charging Case for the AirPods that was released last week, and it was also meant to charge Apple Watch Series 3 and 4 models and all iPhones that support Qi-based wireless charging. With Apple having released the AirPods Charging Case just recently, there was speculation that an AirPower launch was imminent.
The cancelation of AirPower comes as a shock as there have been continual signs that the product was still in the works. AirPower mentions were still included on the newly launched AirPods Charging Case, and Apple recently secured a trademark for the AirPower name. There have also been ongoing rumors of a spring launch, so it appears that Apple worked for months on AirPower solutions before ultimately deciding to nix the project.
Ending work on a project that was already announced and shown off is unprecedented in Apple's recent history.
Tag: AirPower Guide
[ 1948 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
(View all)
21 weeks ago
This will go down in tech history as one of the most notorious examples of vaporware.
21 weeks ago
LOL... what the hell is going on over there? Let's make a bunch of wireless products and leave it up to third parties to figure out how to charge them.
21 weeks ago
If only a former Apple CEO have had the policy to never announce a product that is not ready... oh wait!
21 weeks ago
LOL....man didn't really care bout this product but the continue fall of Apple is accelerating.
[ Read All Comments ]
Earlier this summer, Mophie announced and launched a new line of Juice Pack Air cases for the iPhone XS and XS Max, which promise to add extra hours of battery life to your iPhone while providing...
After offering a look at its upcoming streaming service Disney+, and announcing a bundle with ESPN+ and Hulu, Disney today confirmed the devices that will support Disney+ at launch. For Apple device...
Spotify is launching a new content filter feature for its Family Plan to give parents and guardians better control over what their children listen to.
The owner of the family plan master...
More details have emerged about the unreleased portable Bluetooth speaker from Sonos, thanks to new images shared by WinFuture (via The Verge).
The German site has published several marketing...
Version 17 of Ulysses was released today, bringing some much-requested features to the popular Mac and iOS app for writers.
First up, the developers have brought keyword management to the iOS...
Apple today sent out emails to customers about its latest Apple Pay promo, which will see the company donating $10 to the National Park Foundation for Apple Pay purchases made from the Apple...
We're just a few weeks away from the unveiling of this year's iPhone lineup as well as the official release of iOS 13 and Apple's other new operating system versions, and we're...
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with RAVPower to offer MacRumors readers a chance to win a 61W USB-C Power Adapter and a USB-C to Lightning cable, which can be used to fast charge...
