Apple Cancels AirPower Wireless Charging Mat

Apple will no longer be releasing its wireless charging mat called AirPower. This will come as a big disappointment to Apple users waiting for the device, which was announced in 2017.

Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering Dan Riccio said in the announcement, "After much effort, we've concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards, and we have cancelled the project. We apologize to those customers who were looking forward to this launch. We continue to believe that the future is wireless and are committed to push the wireless experience forward."

A report on TechCrunch says the product cancellation may have been because the mat was causing devices to overheat. This would explain why Apple did not release it and then canceled it if it was something Apple engineers could not easily remedy.

What seems unusual with the AirPower is that Apple was apparently marketing a product it technically did have - at least in a functioning form. TechCrunch notes that "boxes of the new AirPod cases even have pictures of AirPower on them." This was a product Apple clearly expected to release and then did not.

It could be that the design they pre-advertised was too difficult to engineer. Releasing a different design than the packaged version may have upset Apple fans. Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi tells CNET, "Considering others have multi-device mats, Apple could have brought to market a different design, but I think that would have been even more disappointing."

It is inevitable that Apple will ultimately release a wireless charging device. Until then, Apple users will have to rely on third-party devices.