Apple Allegedly Continues to Work on AirPower-Like Charging Mat With A11 Chip to Prevent Overheating [Update: Images Fake]

[Websnapx2]

The chargerOS on those crash and you have 3 devices barbecued and probably you house is gone too. Hard to think that Apple will launch a device with such poor antecedents. It will not easy to build trust.

Unless they build in a trip sensor.

Does it will support 2 or 3 watches at same time? If one can combust the whole thing...If you can only place one Watch, then the whole design is pointless. Just do as everyone else and show the specific placement point for each device.

It's not pointless if they create new tech-based on a new solution. Problems like this birth ingenuity.

Doing it how everyone else has done it is the opposite of Apple's MO — it always has been — for better or worse. Apple has said many times that if they have nothing to add to a market segment while meeting their profit margins, they just won't compete in that market (see: AirPort, Consumer-level Monitors, printers, and tones of other stuff). Apple will not make something that already exists unless it does something the other options cannot do (See: Airpods with W1, XDR Monitor with Reference modes at a Sub-7K pricepoint, Apple Watch with tight iOS integration, FaceID with a high-resolution dot-matrix IR then not found in other mobile devices, etc,).

People who say "just doing it like everyone else" just don't get what Apple tries to do.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

They need this, IF apple wants port-less iphones
And hoping the airpower can charge 2 iphones at the same time

No, they need a $50 product IF Apple goes port-less. I keep $10 cables and $10 chargers all over the house, car and in my bags I work and travel with. Can't imagine spending $1000 for the same convenience.

 

[frou]

That's a novel way to take the fight to Google ... Release a charging mat with more single-thread CPU performance than any Android phone

 

[macduke]

Hah, I recently (and finally) bought a three-device solution, the new Belkin 3-in-1 Wireless Charger.

Belkin 3-in-1 Wireless Charger - Fast Charging Stand for Apple iPhone, Apple Watch & AirPods Case Compatible Qi Station For Multiple Devices - Black

Belkin 3-in-1 Wireless Charger - Fast Charging Stand for Apple iPhone, Apple Watch & AirPods Case Compatible Qi Station For Multiple Devices - Black

smile.amazon.com

It charges my iPhone 11 Pro, AirPods Pro, and Apple Watch Series 4 like a champ. Very much recommended, and it's also fairly compact and minimal on my nightstand. As a bonus compared to AirPower, my iPhone and Apple Watch are both upright and it works with closed loop bands without having to remove them.

I find it to be a bit ridiculous that they need something as powerful as an A11 just to run a charging mat. Must not be engineered very well. Seems like it's going to be pretty expensive. My guess is $199-249 and I don't think it's going to be worth it. Get something else that's cheaper and more functional. The only upside to AirPower is that it shows the charging levels of things on it. If you just plop your devices down at night like I do, you don't really care about that since they're fully charged in the morning.

 

[justperry]

Just what I need, a device that intentionally directs energy beams at me while I'm sleeping.

You get blasted by energy waves each and every second of the day, you'll be fine as long as they are non destructive.

 

[I7guy]

..
I find it to be a bit ridiculous that they need something as powerful as an A11 just to run a charging mat. Must not be engineered very well.
....

Right. Illogical conclusion given the original assertion.

It's using an a11 ergo it's not engineered well...just doesn't track.

 

[MacLawyer]

I wonder how much demand there is for this. I’m happy with the little round gizmo they gave me for the Apple Watch. I charge the iPhone using the cable.

 

[Juzo Fuwa]

Apple should’ve just bought the rights to that modular charging dock (the Scosche BaseLynx Pro) they sell at the Apple store and called that AirPower. It seems more Apple-like than what Apple is actually making.

 

[defferoo]

the fact that they need an A11 chip in there is crazy... they're putting a processor more powerful than the MacBook Air base processor in a charging mat.

 

[bluespark]

Anyone know how this thing is gonna work with sport loops? I know you can invert the band, but the edges of the band still kind of push up on the watch. I'm not sure if it'll sit flat enough to charge. Anyone have a knock off version that they've had success with?

Almost certainly yes. I use a similarly-shaped charger with a sport loop and have no issues at all.

 

[Greenmeenie]

By the time Apple comes out with this Air Power charging mat, we will actually be charging our devices wirelessly thru the air! 😂

 

[macobyte]

I think besides the heat, there was always gonna be the additional safety issue of morons stacking like 12 AirPod cases on the AirPower at once. I can buy the A11 to also govern the number of devices charging at once.

 

[bluespark]

Seems kind of over engineered and overly complex. I’ll stick with the $15 wireless charger from Amazon, thanks anyway Tim. $250 for a charger to charge my $220 AirPods Pro?!?!?

Imagine pissing away $250 to charge a $400 iPhone SE, $199 AirPods, and a $299 Watch. Yikes. 😬

There's a middle ground there, but I agree that this solution seems like extreme overkill. I've had great luck with these, which can charge three devices and can fold for travel: https://ampere.shop/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw...sDT971eQsolNcvuBOSUlLpHsilAVOWxgaAu6iEALw_wcB

 

[bodonnell202]

An A11 chip to manage this seems excessive when a much smaller & cheaper ARM microcontroller would probably do the trick no?

 

[Apple Macintosh 128K]

Of course they didn't just give up on it. It was far enough along that they announced it, they're just not prioritizing it at this point.

 

[emulajavi]

$250 bye bye

 

[bodonnell202]

True but they've probably reached the point where its not economic to produce chips below the A11

They are still making products with both the A8 (Apple TV HD & HomePod) and the A10 (iPad & iPod), whereas the A11 is not found in any products Apple is currently selling as new. If they just wanted to put the cheapest A series chip that is still being produced the A11 definitely isn't it.

 

[DNichter]

Feels like a waste of resources to me. I don't know why anyone would pay $250 for a charger.

 

[kemal]

The A11 is likely the lowest A chip available.

I had a Samsung Qi charger roast a Samsung S8 phone. Guess one needs such an SoC to manage charging. I would habe gone with an ATMEGA32u4.

 

[compwiz1202]

Hard to imagine the power of an A11 chip just to manage a charging mat!

That's like putting an i7 CPU in a microwave oven to run the timer and monitor the auto-cooking modes!

I would gladly take that if it would reset the freaking timer if it hasn't ticked for a few minutes!

 

[calstanford]

$250 hahahahaha. I can get 1.5 Mac Pro Wheels or one quarter of a monitor stand for that kind of dough!

 

[incoherent_1]

With so many third party alternatives, this seems like it would be too niche at this point to even justify the R&D.

I mean really the only market is for people who 1) really hate charging their Watch via a stand and 2) have enough money to pay 2-4x the price of another, normal multi-device charging mat.

 

[mazz0]

I have multiple Apple Lightning based iPhone docks that half the time pop-up a warning saying "this device isn't authentic" (they are, I bought them from the Apple shop, and removing the phone and putting it back solves the issue), or just don't register and you wake up in the morning to an uncharged phone. I'm supposed to believe they'll make this far more complicated device so perfect I can just drop devices on it without worrying about lining them up and they'll charge (and at a decent rate)? Colour my skeptical.

 

[JPack]

The A11 is likely the lowest A chip available.

I had a Samsung Qi charger roast a Samsung S8 phone. Guess one needs such an SoC to manage charging. I would habe gone with an ATMEGA32u4.

The HomePod uses the A8.

 

[BWhaler]

I hope this is true. The multi-deivce mats are poor. Hard to get the right charging sweet spot and makes AirPod cases really warm at times.