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After No Sign of AirPower at Today's Event Apple Wipes Most Mentions From Website

Was really hoping for some some airpods with improved sound and the wireless charging case. Oh wells. Honestly couldn't care less about an overpriced charging mat. Just go aftermarket.
 
NT1440 said:
There is NOTHING on the market that allows you to place a device *anywhere* on a matt for it to charge.

Functionality wise that may not be a big deal to people (it certainly isn’t to me), but from an engineering and technology standpoint it really is a super complex problem that no one else has managed to solve in the year since Apple announced. That alone should tell people how difficult it is to actually do this.
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Or that alone should tell people how irrelevant the project was. The cost/benefit/sales analysis probably told Apple to scrap it for something better. It was/is a solution searching for a problem. A problem that is, at most, a minor annoyance. We've been using Qi charging for years. It's not that crucial.
 
AirPower is clearly a lot more ambitious than what they let on and have run into issues delivering on their goals. Any third rate manufacturer in China can build a Qi charging mat. Apple is very likely going for true wireless charging here. They hint at it given that none of the devices require precise placement on the mat. It probably charges within a certain radius of the mat. This generation would be short range, future iterations would charge at larger distances.

The clue is also in the name "Air" "Power". This is very likely meant to be the first generation of a true wireless power standard and they haven't perfected it just yet. They gotta get the standard right before releasing the first product because every future iteration will be built on what they release first.
 
brofkand said:
I wonder if they have solved the issue, they just aren't releasing it because the problem that needs to be solved is not worth the price of the product. A $50 charging mat from Amazon can have three spots, who cares that you can just toss your iPhone onto the AirPower and they'll charge anywhere on it? Is that worth the premium price?

I would guess that for most it isn't.
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That’s pretty much how I look at it.

That said, this is one of those products that clearly is just a first step towards much larger ambitions.
 
fpsBeaTt said:
You mean like the original iPhone? Or did you just conveniently omit that because it doesn’t suit your cause?
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Not sure what "cause" you're referring to. And who was talking about the original iPhone? Anyway, back to the actual conversation at hand...
 
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69Mustang said:
Or that alone should tell people how irrelevant the project was. The cost/benefit/sales analysis probably told Apple to scrap it for something better. It was/is a solution searching for a problem. A problem that is, at most, a minor annoyance. We've been using Qi charging for years. It's not that crucial.
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They haven’t scrapped it, it will be released in October. I don’t have a source for that, but I’d certainly bet on it.

Apple didn’t go out of its way to engineer this thing, push for some of their implementations to be *included* in new versions of the Qi standard, only to not release it at all. It’s coming, and it’s coming 2018.

It’s pointless for most people (myself included), but it’s a first run on a much bigger wireless charging future Apple is gearing up for.
 
NT1440 said:
They haven’t scrapped it, it will be released in October. I don’t have a source for that, but I’d certainly bet on it.

Apple didn’t go out of its way to engineer this thing, push for some of their implementations to be *included* in new versions of the Qi standard, only to not release it at all. It’s coming, and it’s coming 2018.

It’s pointless for most people (myself included), but it’s a first run on a much bigger wireless charging future Apple is gearing up for.
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If you say so it must be true. I mean, you said it so emphatically. Not even a hint of opinion. :)
 
I was thinking maybe they were holding off until the release of new iPads that supported AirPower. But to go thru the website and remove it from places it used to be doesn't sound good.
 
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NT1440 said:
I don’t understand the insane levels of outrage, this is an incredibly complex device that provides functionality that literally nothing else on the market does.
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I bought the X because I thought (incorrectly) the mat could alleviate the tangle of cords on my nightstand. I got suckered. Never again.
 
69Mustang said:
If you say so it must be true. I mean, you said it so emphatically. Not even a hint of opinion. :)
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I’ve been watching the wireless charging field very carefully. An Apple exec (I think it was Phil) explicitly said they’ve been working with the board that controls the Qi standard to adopt some of the features they’ve cooked up (my guess is the safety ones regarding detecting metal objects placed on the coil to avoid a hazard).

Apple isn’t going to abandon this product, it’s very clearly a first step towards their much bigger wireless charging vision for the future of all their devices.

You can definitely call it an opinion, because it is, but I truly believe we’ll see the AirPower before the end of the year.
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e-coli said:
I bought the X because I thought (incorrectly) the mat could alleviate the tangle of cords on my nightstand. I got suckered. Never again.
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How does that change when it does get released? Same result, a few months later than expected. I don’t see how that’s even worthy of being upset about.
 
Really pathetic if Apple kills it and doesn’t notify their users who have been waiting for this for a year. Things happen, but there’s no excuse for this complete lack of communication from Apple. And I say this even though I don’t particularly want AirPower.
 
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Bryan Bowler said:
This is exactly why Apple should not mention future products until they are actually ready. That is why Steve was so secretive, but things are clearly different nowadays.
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Really, do you not remember the 500mhz G4 fiasco?
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yeah said:
It’s basically a longer version of current wireless chargers on the market. It’s not complex if the charging tech is already present in the current iPhones.
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If it's not complex, how come no other company had a released a similar product? Simple induction charging is easy, what Apple was (is?) trying to do is a good deal more complex.
 
technorganic said:
It's just plastic with a copper coil inside. There's nothing new or complex about inductive charging.
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*sigh* it's a good deal more complicated than a simple copper coil. I love how everyone on macrumors is now suddenly an engineer.
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jonnyb098 said:
The fact it’s been virtually wiped from the site means it’s most likely a dead product. Sad they couldn’t figure it out even a year after announcing it. Apple needs to stop with that stuff anyway. Too many things have been announced and either don’t ship or ship very late for both hardware and software.
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Other than airpower, what other products have been announced but not shipped. There have been a lot of delays, which can be frustrating, but this is the first product that appears to be truly MIA.
 
Gamer9430 said:
I think its safe to say its dead at this point...

"Can't innovate my ass..."
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If you're going to be smart, at least be educated. You missed a comma after "innovate".
[doublepost=1536797293][/doublepost]Clearly the AirPower was more puff than power.

rumors suggested that Apple was still working on issues with overheating and dealing with multi-device circuitry
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I applaud Apple for taking a cautious path with this. The last thing we need is to hear about someone's house burning down because of an overheated AirPower mat.
 
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