Reports: Apple AirPower still overheating, may be “doomed to failure”

One surprise from Apple's iPhone launch event last week was the complete lack of new information about the company's AirPower wireless charging mat. Apple first introduced the charger at its iPhone X unveiling last year, with reports later claiming that the device would ship in March. That never happened, though, and by June Bloomberg reported that Apple was dealing with numerous "technical issues" related to overheating and the complexity of the circuitry involved with the device.

That report said Apple hoped to get AirPower out the door by June, but it later changed its aim to September. While that second launch frame is still possible, it now looks extremely unlikely. Besides not mentioning AirPower whatsoever at its iPhone XS unveiling, the company appeared to scrub all mentions of the charging mat from its website following the event.

Over the weekend, a pair of reports from noted Apple bloggers John Gruber and Sonny Dickson said the delay still boils down to technical problems Apple has struggled to overcome. Both reports note that the AirPower mat is still having major issues with overheating, while Dickson says the device has struggled to communicate with corresponding iDevices and accurately report charge level information. Dickson says Apple has struggled to cleanly integrate the number of charging coils built within the mat, too, a problem that has reportedly been exacerbated by the relatively compact size of the device. Gruber cites "multiple little birdies" he has heard "third-hand," while Dickson cites "multiple internal sources."

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Conceptually, the AirPower is more ambitious than most other wireless chargers on the market. Apple's pitch was that it can charge an iPhone, Apple Watch, and pair of AirPods (through a wireless charging case that is currently advertised on Apple's site but hasn't yet been released) simultaneously by placing each device anywhere on the charging device itself.

The oval-shaped mat is based on the Qi wireless charging standard, but the aforementioned Bloomberg report said the device would also include a custom chip and run a "stripped-down version" of iOS to better manage device pairing and power management between the three iDevices. Dickson says the current mat's overheating issues are preventing that silicon from functioning properly. While most wireless chargers contain a single charging coil and charge one device at a time, Dickson says the AirPower contains "between 21 and 24 power coils of various sizes," which are broken into three groups for charging the three Apple devices anywhere on the mat.

Neither Gruber nor Dickson says whether or not the device has been outright cancelled, though Dickson suggests the AirPower name could wind up applied to a new product sometime next year or beyond. Apple is expected to hold another event in October, but that one is likely to be dedicated to new Mac and iPad devices.

While it's still possible for newer iPhone and Apple Watch users to charge their devices with other wireless charging mats—and while it's worth remembering that all of these devices, AirPower included, still need to be plugged into an outlet and aren't totally "wireless"—the chances of them ever using this iteration of AirPower seem slim: Dickson says many of those working on the project feel it might be "doomed to failure," while Gruber says the feeling among his sources is that AirPower is "well and truly fucked."