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What is the holdup with AirPower?

mcdj

mcdj

macrumors G3
Original poster
Jul 10, 2007
8,970
4,225
NYC
It’s a slab of plastic with a chip or two and a cable. Why is it not already available?

Is Apple holding out until the week before Christmas when they know everyone will jump at it for some ridiculous price?

They can announce and release 3 different complex phones but can’t produce a simple charging pad?
 
mcdj said:
It’s a slab of plastic with a chip or two and a cable. Why is it not already available?

Is Apple holding out until the week before Christmas when they know everyone will jump at it for some ridiculous price?

They can announce and release 3 different complex phones but can’t produce a simple charging pad?
Click to expand...

It's not launching in 2017, Apple announced it will be available in 2018 with an unspecified date. And there is no way to specifically know what is causing a much later release date for the AirPower. Regardless of when it ships, it's not going to stop it from any less popular, similarly to the AirPods.
 
Same delay as the Beats X shipping.
Same delay as the AirPods shipping.
Same delay as the iMac Pro shipping.
Same delay as the HomePod shipping.
Same delay as P2P Apple Pay.
Same delay as unified TV sign in.
Same delay as iCloud iMessage.

Apple is a complete joke of a tech company. They throw garbage at the wall and just hope something sticks. The rest they scrap together or hope people forget about the product announcements when Apple can’t make their concepts come to fuitition.
 
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It’s like with the IPhone X - just a couple of bits of glass and a screen, but it was delayed until November. Crazy.
 
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chriscrowlee said:
Same delay as the Beats X shipping.
Same delay as the AirPods shipping.
Same delay as the iMac Pro shipping.
Same delay as the HomePod shipping.
Same delay as P2P Apple Pay.
Same delay as unified TV sign in.
Same delay as iCloud iMessage.

Apple is a complete joke of a tech company. They throw garbage at the wall and just hope something sticks. The rest they scrap together or hope people forget about the product announcements when Apple can’t make their concepts come to fuitition.
Click to expand...

Wow! Quite the response.

Apple on Forbes Lists
Joke, huh?
 
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It’s actually ready to go. As always with a new Apple product release the delay is in trying to figure out just how much they can get us to pay for it. :p
 
Binarymix said:
They may be one of if not the best companies in the world, but yes, the constant delays and push backs are a joke. A company with this much money shouldn’t be constantly behind schedule.
Click to expand...
It's due to depend and what they can supply.

Other companies get things out on time due to not needing to produce as many
 
The Game 161 said:
It's due to depend and what they can supply.

Other companies get things out on time due to not needing to produce as many
Click to expand...

That may be the case for the iPhone, but they have been announcing products that ship months later (iMac Pro, AirPods, HomePod, Apple Watch). And this isn't just hardware, it's software too (portrait, airplay 2, new Apple TV features), no supply needed for software.

They just can't get their act together, even though they have almost a trillion dollars to pull resources together for release day launches of both hardware and software...
 
It is extraordinary that a company the size of Apple and with its resources can’t get its act together.

Last year: Apple, “All new iPhone 7. No headphone jack! You don’t need one! We have wireless AirPods coming out!” Everyone, “Yay! Can we have some?” Apple, “No.”

This year: Apple, “All new iPhone 8 and X. With wireless charging! Amazing! Here’s a picture of the charger!” Everyone, “Yay! Can we have one?” Apple, “No.”

All years: Apple Board, “Huge bonuses for everyone!” Frontline staff, “Do we get one?” Apple Board, “No.”

All years: Apple Board, “World record profits!” Countries, “Can we have some tax, please?” Apple Board, “No.”
 
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mcdj said:
It’s a slab of plastic with a chip or two and a cable. Why is it not already available?

Is Apple holding out until the week before Christmas when they know everyone will jump at it for some ridiculous price?

They can announce and release 3 different complex phones but can’t produce a simple charging pad?
Click to expand...

Well, its not just a 'simple charging pad'. If you want a triple charging pad there are plenty out now. What Apple are doing with Airpower is creating a device with feedback to the devices being charged so that this information cab be displayed on the iPhone as per their demo. They are working with Qi so that their extensions are added to the Qi standard which will no doubt take negotiations, time and money to achieve. They announced that the product would be available in 2018 so its not like its delayed or anything.
 
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betasp said:
Wow! Quite the response.

Apple on Forbes Lists
Joke, huh?
Click to expand...

What stands out to me is they are #1 in profits. That tells me the profit margin on their products is pretty high. Which then leads me to believe the wireless charger will cost more than competitive models. Because it is Apple branded people will pay more. It most likely will perform the same as so many others, but my guess is they will charge $99 minimum. A hefty profit for them. They are not #1 in profits for nothing. #1 in market value tells me they have a lot of loyal customers who will pay it.

As far as delays, my guess is they are waiting for enough 8's and X's to be sold to justify the release and ensure lots of sales on release day.

What cracks me up is some of the reviews on Amazon for Qi chargers. A lot of people complain that the wireless charger they bought doesn't work on their iPhone 7.
 
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Marshall73 said:
Well, its not just a 'simple charging pad'. If you want a triple charging pad there are plenty out now. What Apple are doing with Airpower is creating a device with feedback to the devices being charged so that this information cab be displayed on the iPhone as per their demo. They are working with Qi so that their extensions are added to the Qi standard which will no doubt take negotiations, time and money to achieve. They announced that the product would be available in 2018 so its not like its delayed or anything.
Click to expand...


well I hope its a lot more than that. They could do an update to ios to communicate charging status back to the phone already. My expectation based on their demo is you can freely position things on the mat and it figures out what they are and how much charge to provide them. Anything else would be very disappointing - having to precisely locate things on Qi pads is one of the frustrations with them.

My guess as to timing is
1) they already said 2018 so they aren't late
2) they may want to line it up to ship alongside the airpod wireless charging case refresh
 
mrklaw said:
well I hope its a lot more than that. They could do an update to ios to communicate charging status back to the phone already. My expectation based on their demo is you can freely position things on the mat and it figures out what they are and how much charge to provide them. Anything else would be very disappointing - having to precisely locate things on Qi pads is one of the frustrations with them.

My guess as to timing is
1) they already said 2018 so they aren't late
2) they may want to line it up to ship alongside the airpod wireless charging case refresh
Click to expand...

You get single coil or multi coil pads. With single coil or even dual coil pads you need to place the device within a certain position to charge. With, multi-coil chargers you can move the position around and charge multiple devices but there is still a sweet spot for charging. Thats not going to change, its a limitation of the tech.

Personally, I will stick to using the standard cable to charge as its faster, more efficient and more economic.
 
Marshall73 said:
You get single coil or multi coil pads. With single coil or even dual coil pads you need to place the device within a certain position to charge. With, multi-coil chargers you can move the position around and charge multiple devices but there is still a sweet spot for charging. Thats not going to change, its a limitation of the tech.

Personally, I will stick to using the standard cable to charge as its faster, more efficient and more economic.
Click to expand...

How about something like a spiral coil, or a lot of overlapping rings, and using some way to sense the position and power up only that area that has a phone/device on top of it? think of a slinky spread out.
 
As an aside, do the AirPods already come with a case that can be charged via AirPower? Or will a new case be needed.
Just trying to determine when to buy the AirPods
 
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