AirPower to Launch 'Later in 2019' According to DigiTimes

[BvizioN]

its interesting everyone (ie newsites) are so focused on this charging mat. why is this even relevant anymore? its a bloody wireless charging mat!

It's a charging mat that charges 3 devices at the same time. So it is not totally irrelevant. I would love to have one thing that charges all my devices.
But Apple should have never announced this if they weren't close to the finished product. Now it has become a subject of jokes.

 

[acblue94]

I’d love to see space gray AirPods with wireless charging and maybe a redesign to improve how they fit in the ear to make them more comfortable.

Why would they re-design to fit comfortable? They already do. Maybe these aren’t for you then.

 

[Mathias Denichi]

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.

I just don’t think the size of the AirPower is logically worth the mm difference of placing it on a spot vs placing it any where on a 7in x 3in pad.

And with all the delays, I bet a cheaper competitor will beat them to it. Apple has scaled to unmanageable proportions for the money to man power ratio they now have.

 

[ipedro]

Don’t forget to remove the sport or Milanese loop band first...

So you drop your Apple Watch onto this expensive charger and nightstand mode doesn’t work. Great job lol

...and you know this how?

AirPower’s signature feature is that devices can be placed anywhere on the mat so by definition there’s a measure of true wireless charging because the device doesn’t require exact placement over a coil. It works at least a couple of inches away from the nearest coil. So having a watch band in the way, or charging it sideways will still be within reach.

The Watch knows it’s on an AirPower mat. Turning on nightstand mode is a trivial software adjustment.

 

[MrGimper]

...and you know this how?

AirPower’s signature feature is that devices can be placed anywhere on the mat so by definition there’s a measure of true wireless charging because the device doesn’t require exact placement over a coil. It works at least a couple of inches away from the nearest coil. So having a watch band in the way, or charging it sideways will still be within reach.

The Watch knows it’s on an AirPower mat. Turning on nightstand mode is a trivial software adjustment.

Really?

AirPower has a number of overlapping coils to allow you to place a device anywhere on it. I would assume that the overlapping is of normal QI coils and watch charging coils (the Series 4 doesn't charge via QI) to achieve this ability to place any device anywhere on it. Considering I can't "hover" my XS Max over my QI charger, or hover my watch over the charging puck, I find it had to believe that AirPower will charge a device just because it's somewhere in the vicinity.

 

[Thrutheroofnunderground]

I’d love to see space gray AirPods with wireless charging and maybe a redesign to improve how they fit in the ear to make them more comfortable.

This. Literally the only way I would buy Air Pods, is if they were space gray and had wireless charging.

 

[tooloud10]

so much hype about a simple wireless charger.....
There are so many better choices out there.



https://www.amazon.com/BBOES-Aluminum-Wireless-Charging-Charger/dp/B07J5GXV2C/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?hvadid=238273294936&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9030037&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=5825535199577180341&hvtargid=aud-589036435099:kwd-333415077023&ie=UTF8&keywords=triple+wireless+charger&qid=1548160452&sr=8-2-spons&tag=googhydr-20&psc=1


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KSHZV5...&pd_rd_r=b121a423-1e41-11e9-8a8a-2f30ef44b2f5

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078K4G5K...e41-11e9-8a8a-2f30ef44b2f5&smid=ALONMT0N2PA8G

Those things all look ridiculous.

 

[Ghost31]

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.

Yeah these reactions are really easy to predict. People typically go through cycles. Kinda like 12 steps alcoholics take!

There was excitement and then people acted like “they don’t care” and are leaving comment after comment justifying to themselves why “it’s just a charger. What’s the big deal?” Then it’ll finally come out and every youtuber under the sun will review it and how cool it is to put literally all your devices down on one pad and charge everything at once. The stellar reviews will be rolling it and then people will say “I’m so glad apple waited to get it right and didn’t rush it. What a great product!” Everybody will buy one and we’ll kinda forget that everybody went through this and just accept that almost everybody with iPhone + another device has AirPower

People will initially complain about price, but sales on amazon and Best Buy and other retailers make it more accessible. Holidays comes around and people buy it in droves

 

[indychris]

Every picture I see of the air power shows the Apple Watch laying flat on the surface of the charging mat, yet using the standard Apple silicon band, the watch simply will not lay flat. Is that going to mean that the AirPower is going to require a different band? If so, that rules me out. While it may not be all that fashionable, the silicon band is absolutely the most comfortable watch band I’ve ever used, and as one who works in a lot of different environments, the things is virtually indestructible and impervious to water.

Though I’ve not seen anything printed on this, my suspicion is that the watch is the weak link in the AirPower chain for Apple. I want to be able to lay my AW on its side so that the face is visible as I lay in bed.

 

[Blizzardman]

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.

For me it is a definite buy due to my hectic travel schedule that now requires me to pack a few wires and different chargers. If I can just throw this one pad/wire in and can charge my phone/watch/airpods that saves me the risk of forgetting a wire at home.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

its interesting everyone (ie newsites) are so focused on this charging mat. why is this even relevant anymore? its a bloody wireless charging mat!

Depends on how you look at it. For the the relevance of talking about this is that there is nothing else to talk about. Which leaves us talking about a stupid charging mat that is way late being launched and might come out later in 2019. There is just not much great news coming out of Apple lately and this is the little glimmer of hope that keeps us going on I guess.

 

[Mac 128]

Every picture I see of the air power shows the Apple Watch laying flat on the surface of the charging mat, yet using the standard Apple silicon band, the watch simply will not lay flat. Is that going to mean that the AirPower is going to require a different band? If so, that rules me out. While it may not be all that fashionable, the silicon band is absolutely the most comfortable watch band I’ve ever used, and as one who works in a lot of different environments, the things is virtually indestructible and impervious to water.

Though I’ve not seen anything printed on this, my suspicion is that the watch is the weak link in the AirPower chain for Apple. I want to be able to lay my AW on its side so that the face is visible as I lay in bed.

That’s a reasonable deduction. Apple does own patents for wireless charging at a distance, so AirPower might be offering something more than anyone thinks. Certainly if AirPower can overcome a gap of a centimeter or two, then it should be able to radiate to a watch in nightstand mode.

 

[ryanwarsaw]

At this point I'm betting the wireless charging case will be exclusive to AirPods 2 as a means to drive upgrades.

No need to do that batteries wearing out will do that for them. With how it works now if you need to replace batteries you should just get the next gen.

 

[rtr1985]

So December 31, 2019, most likely.

 

[jamezr]

Those things all look ridiculous.

I disagree...I would rather have my iPhone standing up where I can see the notification than flat.

 

[bigjnyc]

What a complete failure this thing has been. I personally don't care because it wont work for me anyway... I use alot of bands that wrap around or use clasps so I can't lay the watch on a flat charger... I would have to take off one side of the band every night to charge. So its a no go for me, and quite frankly a fail in design since Apple themselves sells bands that wont work with this.

 

[Greymacuser]

Much like Apple's attempts to make a real professional desktop, they fail to deliver on basic devices that every other manufacturer has had for years.
Remember when Apple used to innovate.
They remind me of a teenager that promises to mow the lawn but just sits around all day playing with his iPhone.

 

[omihek]

AirPower to Launch 'Later'

Fixed it for you.

 

[Silver Idaten]

I have an Anker wireless charging stand for my XR, and a Spigen dock that I put my charger in for my Watch 4. I also have another Anker charging pad that I could use the future wireless AirPod case on, and until then I don't care about just plugging it in. I don't care about AirPower anymore. Good job, Apple.

 

[15danielp]

Unless I can buy a table that has wireless charging built in, I don't see the point anyway. Is it really that special to not plug something in to charge it? Oh, and that "wireless" charging pad has to be plugged in.

If it was cheap and I could have a few laying around the house to place my devices down (like I have charging cables everywhere) then I could get into the idea.

 

[PickUrPoison]

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.

I think your memory might be somewhat faulty. Schiller never said that.

He said “So look for the AirPower charger next year”.

 

[freddiecable]

That might be so. Lets hope so

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.