Video shows canceled Apple AirPower wireless charging mat in action for the first time

by



[ad_1]

Video shows canceled Apple AirPower wireless charging mat in action for the first time

A working prototype of the AirPower wireless charger announced by Apple in 2017 alongside the iPhone X and canceled in 2019 appeared online.

Developer Giulio Zompetti posted a short video on Twitter that shows AirPower charging an iPhone. As Apple’s marketing materials indicated, the battery percentage is displayed on the phone screen.

Apple originally planned to ship the AirPower in 2018. It was supposed to charge three devices simultaneously: an iPhone, AirPods with a charging case, and an Apple Watch. The idea was that consumers could charge their devices no matter where they were placed.

This led to complex circuits with multiple load cells and components of different sizes that would have caused overheating issues. A The teardown video released last year shows the device had 14 coils.

Zompetti got his hands on the AirPower prototype via Chinese e-waste sources and his unit has 22 coils in the front and 22 controller circuits in the rear, The edge reports. The mat has a stainless steel body and only works with special iPhone prototype material.

It uses a serial lightning cable to make it work and has so far been able to charge two devices simultaneously. He did not notice any overheating.

The charger is said to have an Apple chip that ran a toned down version of iOS. It has been placed inside to manage the power management on the device and the pairing of devices. This only added to the challenges as the platform would have had a lot of bugs.

The device was apparently quite advanced in its development when it was scrapped. Apple engineers used it as a charger in their offices, according to a 2018 report. The documents in the box for the 2018 iPhone lineup also referred to the charger and the 2019 AirPods had a photo of a charging mat. on the box. The company also acquired the AirPower brand a month before suspending the project.

[ad_2]

Source link