Skip to main content

Leaker claims Apple is secretly still working on AirPower charging mat

It looks like AirPower may not be dead after all. Apple officially canceled its AirPower wireless charging mat almost a year ago, but according reports, the company has resumed development of AirPower internally. The news comes from leaker Jon Prosser, who tweeted that the company is currently engaged in prototyping, but that there’s no guarantee it will ever be released.

Originally, AirPower was supposed to be a wireless charging mat that could charge the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods anywhere on the mat. All the user had to do was simply place the device on the mat, and it would start charging. Not only that, but users could also see the battery status of their devices on their iPhone’s display.

Recommended Videos

According to Prosser, Apple’s main challenge is building a charging mat that supports the Apple Watch. While the iPhone and AirPods both support Qi wireless charging, the Apple Watch instead uses a propriety charging standard developed by Apple. In fact, Prosser notes that none of the prototypes currently support the Apple Watch — but that Apple refuses to release a version of AirPower that doesn’t have Apple Watch support.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Prosser isn’t the only one to suggest that Apple is still working on a wireless charging mat. Well-known analyst Ming-Chi Kuo noted that Apple was working on a “smaller charging mat,” however no further details were provided at the time. Kuo suggested that the device would be released in the first half of 2020 — however given supply chain issues surrounding the coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, it’s unclear if that will still happen. It’s also unclear if the new charging mat will be branded as an AirPower device.

MacRumors notes that Prosser has a decent track record when it comes to Google leaks, but has yet to become known for Apple leaks. Last week, Prosser tweeted that the rumored iPhone 9 had entered production, and that Apple was working with BYD in China to speed up production of the new phone.

Apple first announced AirPower in 2017, targeting a release date of 2018. Subsequently, the company missed its release date, and was forced to delay the release of the product due to “manufacturing issues.”

Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…
Apple will reportedly launch an iPhone Air in 2025. Here’s what we know
A render of the iPhone Air.

Rumors about Apple iPhone models for 2025 are already starting to circulate, even though we’re still waiting for the iPhone 16 series to be officially announced this fall. While we’re still pretty far out for the anticipated release of the iPhone 17 models next year, that hasn’t stopped speculation that Apple may be set for a major change to its iPhone 17 lineup with the release of a much slimmer iPhone called the iPhone Air.

The source of this speculation — and that’s all it is so far — is Front Page Tech’s Jon Prosser, who posted a 12-minute YouTube video delving into Apple potentaially changing the lineup of the iPhone 17 models and introducing a new device with a new name.

Read more
Apple just fixed a mistake with the new iPad Air
A person holding the Apple iPad Air (2024), showing the screen.

When Apple first announced the M2 iPad Air during its “Let Loose” event, it advertised the device as having a 10-core GPU. This was incorrect, as the tablet has only a 9-core GPU. According to Apple, these specs were a mix-up, and other performance claims about the iPad Air are still accurate.

While it’s not great to advertise a certain spec to customers and have them preorder and buy a device based on that claim, this isn’t a huge difference on paper, and you shouldn’t see any real difference in performance. According to a statement Apple made to 9to5Mac, “We are updating Apple.com to correct the core count for the M2 iPad Air. All performance claims for the M2 iPad Air are accurate and based on a 9-core GPU.”

Read more
We finally know when Apple may release a second-gen AirTag
Person holding an Apple AirTag.

It’s been three years since Apple last released the AirTag, and we’re finally seeing our first rumors about a second generation of the tracker. According to Bloomberg, Apple is preparing a new AirTag, currently codenamed B589, and is conducting tests with manufacturing partners in Asia.

This AirTag 2 isn’t expected to arrive until mid-2025, so there’s still quite a bit of time before we get concrete information. This timeline for the AirTag second-gen aligns with the news last year from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who reported that mass production of the AirTag 2 was delayed until 2025. Kuo expected production to start in the fourth quarter of 2024 for a 2025 launch.

Read more