Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
I just need to chip in.

1. How on earth can this take such a long time? Apple has close to 100 000 employees?! And R&D budget size of what? They launched the iPhone 2007. With one fifth of the manpower and one tenth of the R&D budget. What is going on at Apple?

2. How on earth is this of such interest?
 
Take your time Apple, you missed the deadline of 2018 so releasing it 2, 3 or 6 month after that doesn't make a difference. People are not holding their breath for this product
 
This reminds me of the story of duke nukem 3D! “When will it be released? (After 7 years of development..) “when it’s done!” :D
 
I just need to chip in.

1. How on earth can this take such a long time? Apple has close to 100 000 employees?! And R&D budget size of what? They launched the iPhone 2007. With one fifth of the manpower and one tenth of the R&D budget. What is going on at Apple?

2. How on earth is this of such interest?

AirPower will likely have a much larger role once Apple goes full pivot into wearables, many of which probably won’t even have charging ports.

The people who are dismissing it as just another overpriced “triple-charger” today just aren’t seeing the bigger picture yet.
 
Hate to be a Negative Nancy, but is anyone really going to buy it at that point?
I feel like everyone in the need has already saturated their wireless charger collection.
Keep in mind that the first iPhones with wireless charging only released ~15 months ago and most people don't upgrade their phone yearly nowadays, so a majority of iPhone users are still on a phone without wireless charging and could potentially consider AirPower when they eventually make the jump to a newer phone. Even many people who do have an iPhone from 2017 or newer don't yet have a wireless charger for various reasons, so they'd still be in the market for AirPower theoretically.

The adoption rate for AirPower is sure gonna be slower than with many other Apple products since it requires you to have an iPhone, AW and AirPods (and all of them from 2017 or newer) to fully take advantage of. But that's fine – it's a product where you're mostly paying for additional convenience, and that's not everyone's cup of tea. But I think Apple is going to play the long game with this – this is a product that, once released, will be relevant and up-to-date for many years to come, so while by far not every iPhone user is going to buy one at launch, having it around will probably pay off greatly for Apple over time.

Many people may only have an iPhone right now (maybe not even one that has wireless charging), but may decide to get AirPods or an AW sometime down the road, and all the different chargers for different devices start to become annoying and AirPower becomes a relevant product for them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: tooloud10
I think your memory might be somewhat faulty. Apple announced only once the expected release timeframe and never changed it. They’ve now missed it by three weeks (and counting).
Schiller. In the iPhone even 2017. Said “look out for AirPower, EARLY next year”. So unless after September is still “early”, they are at least 4 months late.
 
Ikea have wireless charger for 3 devices for $60. Ok - you have to put your device right on (or at least near) "+" symbol. But is it really so inconvenient? Ikea charger can charge 3 devices, cost must less than AirPower would be (no doubt about that) and you have two color option of it. As far as I know, Air Power will be better only in one area - you can put device anywhere on the AirPower. Not sure if it's worth more money or waiting...

0326720_PE519777_S5.JPG

I tried one of those but sent it back. It was annoying having to find the sweet spot in the dark. And sometimes, if you didn’t hit it just right or the phone got knocked, I’d come back to find a phone not charged. It also won’t change my Apple Watch so I still need two devices. Which defeats the point.
 
  • Like
Reactions: afir93
This, Apple are doing something different and i for one welcome it. Being able to drop my iPhone X, Apple Watch and AirPods on the Airpower mat and have them charge no matter where on the mat they are placed is SUPER convenient. If it's taken Apple a while to work out some problems and kinks then that's fine with me.
How is this super convenient? It something that would occur maybe once or twice a week. Currently wireless charging isn't the chore some make it out to be... outside of the hyperbole filled narratives people like build to support their points. Wireless charging is old hat. It's newer to the Apple ecosystem, but it's still old hat. Put your phone on the charger. Boom. Same for watch. Boom.

Place anywhere will be a neat technological achievement if it arrives. But that's it. It would be a neat tech achievement that could lead to a couple of less cables. Super convenient? Let's pump the brakes a bit on the hyperbolic enthusiasm. We're talking about the wireless charging of electronics. That's about as exciting as watching paint dry.
 
AirPower will likely have a much larger role once Apple goes full pivot into wearables, many of which probably won’t even have charging ports.

The people who are dismissing it as just another overpriced “triple-charger” today just aren’t seeing the bigger picture yet.
Apple is likely trying to perfect this so they can remove all ports on the phone. I think the initial version of this will have a ton of returns or replacements and sit at about 2 1/2 stars on the site.
 
How is this super convenient? It something that would occur maybe once or twice a week. Currently wireless charging isn't the chore some make it out to be... outside of the hyperbole filled narratives people like build to support their points. Wireless charging is old hat. It's newer to the Apple ecosystem, but it's still old hat. Put your phone on the charger. Boom. Same for watch. Boom.

Place anywhere will be a neat technological achievement if it arrives. But that's it. It would be a neat tech achievement that could lead to a couple of less cables. Super convenient? Let's pump the brakes a bit on the hyperbolic enthusiasm. We're talking about the wireless charging of electronics. That's about as exciting as watching paint dry.

Super convenient because it’s one cord, not 2 or 3 being plugged into different sockets. Buy one of these for the office and home, it’s super convenient for keeping devices charged.

Being able to place anywhere and have all 3 devices charging at the same time will be great.
 
There is always space for a useful and nicely designed Apple accessory. For example who doesn't miss the routers?

So hurry up Apple.
 
Super convenient because it’s one cord, not 2 or 3 being plugged into different sockets. Buy one of these for the office and home, it’s super convenient for keeping devices charged.

Being able to place anywhere and have all 3 devices charging at the same time will be great.
There are wireless mats that charge multiple devices with one cord. The only difference is that it can’t be placed anywhere on the mat.

While it’s convenient that a phone can be placed anywhere on AirPower mat: the mat mock-up is super small and basically can only fit the iPhone horizontally. This would be way more impressive if it were a mat that could be placed to fit a whole nightstand top, and charge the devices anywhere it’s placed.
 
There are wireless mats that charge multiple devices with one cord. The only difference is that it can’t be placed anywhere on the mat.

While it’s convenient that a phone can be placed anywhere on AirPower mat: the mat mock-up is super small and basically can only fit the iPhone horizontally. This would be way more impressive if it were a mat that could be placed to fit a whole nightstand top, and charge the devices anywhere it’s placed.

Exactly, it can't be placed anywhere on the mat, that's the most impressive part of the Airpower. It may seem very small detail but in practical use I think it will be great. For example placing on the mat at bedtime, I won't have to worry about if the device is on the right part of the charger or if it's still charging, just place all three devices on the charging mat and there we have it.

The size of the Airpower can't be too big for a bedside table, most people have other items on there like a lamp, book and so on, all will be fighting for space. The Airpower being small will be good.
 
Super convenient because it’s one cord, not 2 or 3 being plugged into different sockets. Buy one of these for the office and home, it’s super convenient for keeping devices charged.

Being able to place anywhere and have all 3 devices charging at the same time will be great.
Yeah, that's not super convenient. It may be marginally more convenient... and only in certain circumstances. It's not like you have to plug in the cords multiple times. You plug the pad/stand in once and forget it. If you have multiple, plug them into a surge strip. This isn't rocket science.

One for the office and home? Everyone's different but outside of your phone, how many times do you actually think you'd charge your watch or AirPods at work? A $20 charging stand on your work desk makes infinitely (see I can do hyperbole too :D) more sense than a large mat taking up a lot of space. At home, there's no super convenience either. Your devices don't discharge at the same rate. As I said earlier, they would be on the mat at the same time once or twice a week, if that much... unless you charge needlessly just to get them on the pad together. The convenience factor goes down even further when you have to go to your bedroom every time to charge which ever device is low.

If it makes it to market, cool. For those who'd want one, more power to them. But it ain't the 2nd coming that you're making it out to be.
 
How is this super convenient? It something that would occur maybe once or twice a week. Currently wireless charging isn't the chore some make it out to be... outside of the hyperbole filled narratives people like build to support their points. Wireless charging is old hat. It's newer to the Apple ecosystem, but it's still old hat. Put your phone on the charger. Boom. Same for watch. Boom.

Place anywhere will be a neat technological achievement if it arrives. But that's it. It would be a neat tech achievement that could lead to a couple of less cables. Super convenient? Let's pump the brakes a bit on the hyperbolic enthusiasm. We're talking about the wireless charging of electronics. That's about as exciting as watching paint dry.
It's possible that airpower turns out to one of those improvements which seems like a very minor benefit on paper, but ends up spoiling the user so much that they can't go back to cheaper alternatives.

It's like how after I got the AirPods, I never used any of my previous headphones ever again. Sound quality was okay at best, but the AirPods more than made up for it in all the other areas, such as convenience and comfort.
 
Yeah, that's not super convenient. It may be marginally more convenient... and only in certain circumstances. It's not like you have to plug in the cords multiple times. You plug the pad/stand in once and forget it. If you have multiple, plug them into a surge strip. This isn't rocket science.

One for the office and home? Everyone's different but outside of your phone, how many times do you actually think you'd charge your watch or AirPods at work? A $20 charging stand on your work desk makes infinitely (see I can do hyperbole too :D) more sense than a large mat taking up a lot of space. At home, there's no super convenience either. Your devices don't discharge at the same rate. As I said earlier, they would be on the mat at the same time once or twice a week, if that much... unless you charge needlessly just to get them on the pad together. The convenience factor goes down even further when you have to go to your bedroom every time to charge which ever device is low.

If it makes it to market, cool. For those who'd want one, more power to them. But it ain't the 2nd coming that you're making it out to be.

On paper yes, in reality i think it will be super useful and convenient, if it doesn't appeal to you that's fine but to me it does so far, obviously when it release i will take a look to make sure it does all the things that were announced back in 2017.

Who said you have to wait until your phone is even low before charging? i often charge my iPhone X when it's convenient, for example if i know i'm going out i will often charge my iPhone back up to 100% even if it's still on 70% because sometimes i don't know if i'm going to be near a wireless charger and i don't carry my iPhone cable around with me to charge it. The same for my Apple Watch, when i go for a run in the morning and i get back my Series 4 is often on about 88% and i put it on charge while i shower. AirPods case i keep charged as often as possible.

Everyone is different and how this will fit into their lives or not, i just happen to think it will be great. The AirPods were the same, on paper they didn't seem that great, in reality they are brilliant and something that i use every day, so do a lot of people. I guess time will tell, that's if it even gets released at all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: afir93
Last edited:
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
It's possible that airpower turns out to one of those improvements which seems like a very minor benefit on paper, but ends up spoiling the user so much that they can't go back to cheaper alternatives.
I agree, that is possible. It's also possible that it turns out users realize it's just a wireless charging mat and the ability to lay anywhere doesn't really have any practical benefits. Considering we're discussing a pedestrian activity, wireless charging, one of those possibilities seems a bit more likely.
 
Last edited:
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.