It was a little over one year ago that Apple officially canceled the AirPower charging mat that it had originally announced back in 2017. According to a new report, though, AirPower isn't dead yet.
Apple is rumored to still be working on an AirPower-like charging mat that can charge the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods at once. Jon Prosser, who's been the source of some other Apple rumors lately, says that there have been issues getting the Apple Watch to charge with this device but that Apple has now gotten that working.
This prototype charging mat is said to be codenamed "C68", and Prosser also says that the cable plugged into the mat is USB-C and not Lightning.
Apple never said why it canceled AirPower except that the product did not "achieve our high standards". Reports have suggested that the AirPower charging mat ran too hot because of its array of wireless coils. According to Prosser, Apple is using fewer coils with less overlap as well as an A11 chip inside to help manage the heat of this charging mat.
This new Apple charging mat could launch in Q4 2020 or Q1 2021 for around $250, claims Prosser.
Since AirPower's cancellation, we've seen a few different third-party versions come to market. There are likely quite a few iPhone owners who would gladly plunk down the cash for an AirPower-like charging mat from Apple, though, especially if it could let you plop down all of your devices anywhere on the mat like the original AirPower had promised.
Would you be interested in this new charging mat from Apple if it does launch?
Well, you guys wanted a better picture of “C68”...
Remember how I said that the main problem was that current prototypes didn’t support Apple Watch?
Yeah.
Well.They got the Watch working... pic.twitter.com/LvBeNAAtt3
— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) June 18, 2020