At first glance, Apple canceling AirPower seems like a huge fail. But it’s nothing compared to another recent hardware disaster.
The company announced its cool new wireless charger, Apple’s first, in 2017. It was supposed to charge multiple devices (iPhones, AirPods, Apple Watches, etc.) simultaneously -- something other wireless chargers currently can’t do.
Most people are calling this a huge embarrassment. But is it really?
It’s hard to judge AirPower — an unreleased product which I have never used and had no bearing at all on my life — a failure while I’m sitting here typing this on Apple’s crappy MacBook Pro butterfly keyboard.
That’s an embarrassment.
With AirPower, Apple says it couldn’t build a high quality product, so instead of releasing a subpar device that would possibly be prone to issues, it didn’t. That sounds like a reasonable and responsible move. In addition, the company broke the news itself, controlling how it wanted the information to come out.
With the butterfly keyboard, however, Apple has committed to making this defective product the default keyboard on its MacBook Pro line of computers. Unlike AirPower, Apple actually sells this product to customers.
Unlike AirPower, Apple actually sells this product to customers.
Keys constantly get stuck and fail, debris is more difficult to blow out, and unlike every other keyboard, it’s impossible to replace because it's attached to other laptop components such as the battery. The company has been hit with a class action lawsuit over it.
The butterfly keyboards are one of the main reasons I chose to go with a 2015 MacBook Pro, the last of Apple’s laptops with the old style keyboard, as my personal computer just last year.
Apple has tried to fix the keyboard problem plaguing customers who purchased its near $2,000 flagship laptops. Now, in its third generation, Apple’s butterfly keyboard is still rife with issues. That’s embarrassing.
Perhaps Apple has a bit of egg on its face for announcing a product before it was ready. Maybe the company should feel a little foolish for shipping products released just this week in packaging still touting AirPower. But in the end, consumers will never have to deal with whatever problems plagued Apple’s wireless charging mat.
And here I am hoooooolding down my “O” and “E” keys in hopes of unsticking them just enough so I can finish writing this.
