iPhone XS and XS Max User Guides Reference AirPower, Suggesting Apple Still Plans to Release It

[gdjsnyder]

The manuals alone don’t prove anything to me, but Apple updating the AirPower management code in the 12.1 beta does. Why touch the coding in a beta if you want to just forget about the product? Why not just remove the code about it entirely?

I don’t believe they’ve completely washed their hands on this product yet.

 

[jonnysods]

If it does end up getting released it will still be cheaper to buy 10 third party wireless chargers and throw in a couple extra Apple watch chargers.

 

[Rojaaemon]

My pile of 'cash to spend on new Apple products' just grows and grows.

Maybe when it is big enough to buy a car, Apple will unveil their long-rumored Apple Car.

 

[Analog Kid]

They probably forgot about it.

This is entirely possible-- or more likely given how secretive Apple is even internally, the tech docs group wasn't told that AirPower was due to be canceled.

I believe AirPower will factor heavily into Apple’s wearables strategy in the future (imagine a giant charging mat where you can just throw a whole bunch of wearable trackers and devices (some of which won’t even have charging ports) and have them charge overnight without having to fiddle with multiple cables or worry about aligning them properly.

This is a temporary setback at best. I wouldn’t be so quick as to write off AirPower just yet.

I dunno. I used to think it was a basic engineering problem, but it's quickly starting to sound much more complex than that. What did I read in the last write-up? 24 overlapping coils?

 

[Kaibelf]

But this would indicate the baseless speculation from the other day was nonsense! Impossible!

 

[cmaier]

This is entirely possible-- or more likely given how secretive Apple is even internally, the tech docs group wasn't told that AirPower was due to be canceled.

I dunno. I used to think it was a basic engineering problem, but it's quickly starting to sound much more complex than that. What did I read in the last write-up? 24 overlapping coils?

24 coils is a basic engineering problem

 

[OVERTASK]

This is just embarrassing.

I’m looking forward to reading about what in the hell happened about 10 years from now. It’s probably somehow Eddy Cue’s fault.

“...and things got really out of hand when Eddy after snorting cocaine off of Johnny Ive’s head proceeded to lick all the prototypes while yelling ‘I AM THE AIRPOWER!’”

 

[btrach144]

Wow, Apple is looking sloppy.

 

[mariusignorello]

Something is up. Apple wouldn’t make this big of a mistake. And even if they did they’re probably scrambling to get that charging mat out ASAP to at least save face.

 

[Cigarwreck]

Related question ....I have a 29w charger and working USB C cord that has always worked for fast charging my iphone 8 - since iOS 12 I no longer get the "double chime" indicating fast charge. Anyone have some insight?

 

[BGPL]

The elusive charging mat that no-name Chinese manufacturers made five years ago is kicking Apple's a**. Almost hilarious, but more pathetic.

They knew it was a possibility they were going to fail since they mentioned Qi certified. Apple never mentions others' technology. Ever.

 

[newyorksole]

Related question ....I have a 29w charger and working USB C cord that has always worked for fast charging my iphone 8 - since iOS 12 I no longer get the "double chime" indicating fast charge. Anyone have some insight?

I feel like the double chime was an error. I don’t think it was supposed to do that.

 

[cmaier]

The elusive charging mat that no-name Chinese manufacturers made five years ago is kicking Apple's a**. Almost hilarious, but more pathetic.

They knew it was a possibility they were going to fail since they mentioned Qi certified. Apple never mentions others' technology. Ever.

They mention standards all the time

 

[Cigarwreck]

I feel like the double chime was an error. I don’t think it was supposed to do that.

I know it did it since November so last year, and many, many people experienced the same (that I saw on other forums). Non-conforming cords did not produce the chimes.

 

[GadgetBen]

What is the big deal?

Apple will most likely release this silently when it is ready.

A wireless charging device is hardly breaking news and won’t get the general media excited.

 

[JohnnyQuest]

What is the big deal?

Apple will most likely release this silently when it is ready.

A wireless charging device is hardly breaking news and won’t get the general media excited.

Apple would never "silently" release a big product like this, one that they've teased for over a year. The breakthrough was the ability to haphazardly throw all your devices onto it, and have them charge in tandem. And clearly with the amount of disappointment and the number of articles on this, it is breaking news that a lot of consumers are upset about.

So...no.

 

[redman042]

AirPower might not be dead yet, but it sounds in trouble, and it makes sense. Charging pads get hot and require accurate placement of the device. I'm not sure how Apple was going to pull off a multi-device solution like this.

Not sure why everyone is so focused on it either. It wasn't that important of a product in the scheme of things. I guess because it's Apple and they aren't supposed to make mistakes...

 

[69Mustang]

All it suggests to me is that the manual was printed before the decision to delay or cancel it was made.

This makes the most sense. Can you imagine the logistical nightmare of trying to replace the manuals in all the phones shipped around the world? Phones in warehouses, in retail stores, at carrier locations, on freighters, in trucks... Noooooope (Lana Kane). Besides, it wouldn't be really green to replace all that paper when they could simply ignore it and let us speculate. Which we're doing.

 

[dilbert99]

I think Apple have chosen a lame name for the charging mat.

It give me the impression of wireless charging at distance. When you have to lay your device on the mat.
[doublepost=1537507602][/doublepost]

This is a temporary setback at best. I wouldn’t be so quick as to write off AirPower just yet.

It depends, they potentially have a lot of physics issues to address. I don't think having overlapping coils is a simple problem to solve. Depends on how far along they are on the path.

 

[fokmik]

We still have one more event to come in October
[doublepost=1537508066][/doublepost]Looking into iOS 12.1, we noticed that the component of iOS responsible for managing the charging interface that appears when using AirPower has been updated, which means that Apple is still actively working on the project.

 

[Enclavean]

Apple probably has a team of very qualified engineerings working around the clock and the minute they make a breakthrough and figure out how to solve this they are putting it on production. Very unlikely they are canceling it.

As for it being removed from the website, probably because they aren’t able to provide a proper ETA for customers asking.

 

[Abazigal]

The elusive charging mat that no-name Chinese manufacturers made five years ago is kicking Apple's a**. Almost hilarious, but more pathetic.

They knew it was a possibility they were going to fail since they mentioned Qi certified. Apple never mentions others' technology. Ever.

Mind sharing this mythical charging mat that supposedly has AirPower’s backside kicked?

I am pretty sure it doesn’t do what Apple set out to accomplish with AirPower. And likely never will.

 

[Jaekae]

weird they call it airpower when its more like touchpower

 

[FFR]

Mind sharing this mythical charging mat that supposedly has AirPower’s backside kicked?

I am pretty sure it doesn’t do what Apple set out to accomplish with AirPower. And likely never will.

AirPower was rumored to have 21 coils

If there is an alternative, I will take 2.

 

[WatchFromAfar]

I think people are missing the point. Without a wirelss mat of Apples's design they will REMOVE wireless charging as it stands now in the next iteration of iPhones.

Then re-introduce it when they get their act together with their own version (not compatable with anything else)