Wow, this we really did not expect at all. After months of waiting for it to finally be available to buy, la wireless charging base Apple has been canceled by the company. The Cupertino firm has confirmed this in a brief statement. We tell you everything we know and the reasons of this premature burial.
Apple AirPower canceled
The first time we heard about AirPower was in 2017. The house announced it at the presentation event of the iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X and promised that its wireless charging base would be launched sometime in 2018. However, the months passed and the firm did not speak of them again or give an official date, creating great confusion among fans waiting for this accessory: what was going on with AirPower and why was it taking so long to be available?
Rumors about possible problems in its manufacture grew strongly, however, a brief appearance days ago reawakened everyone's hopes. It happened with the launch of the AirPods 2 (put into circulation about a week ago) in whose box the referenced base appeared. Did that mean the base was finally coming down?
Nothing is further from reality. A few minutes ago TechCrunch has released a statement from Dan Riccio, Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering, confirming the product cancellation -As far as can be remembered, it is the first time that Apple has done this in its history, as remember our friends at ClipSET - for issues with their own standards:
After much effort, we have come to the conclusion that AirPower will not meet our high standards and have canceled the project. We apologize to customers who were waiting for this release. We continue to believe that the future is wireless and we are committed to advancing the wireless experience.
In the same source of this news, problems that had already been discussed in relation to the charging base are cited. John Gruber, in September of last year, was talking about the problems de core warming and that Apple had been too hasty in showing the product.
This cancellation inevitably reminds us of the old iPhone 4 white. At that time, the phone in said color was announced but it took months to reach stores. The reason? It also didn't meet Apple's quality standards, and the white didn't stay pristine, showing obvious color wear (turning yellowish) over time. Finally they managed to solve it and launched this model.
This time, however, they have not been able to provide a solution, canceling for the first time a product that had already been announced by the company.
AirPods, an orphan product
The collateral damage from the cancellation of the AirPower base is going to be tremendous. As we mentioned before, the first products that come to mind are the Second generation AirPods. Obviously, the new wireless headphones with wireless charging will be able to continue charging with any other compatible base, however, it will be quite shocking see the product boxes in the official Apple stores referring to an accessory that will definitely never reach stores.
See this post on Instagram
"It works with the AirPower base" #airpods with the hype through the roof. ?
A shared publication of Jose Mendiola ??? (@jose) Mar 28, 2019 at 2:37am PDT
We imagine that after this change of plans, the manufacturer will already be working on change the design of these boxes, although at this time you can still get one of these "limited and particular packages" without problems.
AirPower price:
AirPod box shows lightning cable. But lightning to USB-A maxes at 12W. Must be lightning to USB-C.
Wireless charging 3 devices needs 30W+. via https://t.co/C97Smpq644
USB-C 30W charger + cable = $70 alone!
So AirPower must be $149-$199? pic.twitter.com/i6iJX2mJuA
- Ryan Jones (@rjonesy) March 29th 2019
They are not the only accessories that complain somewhat lame. Apple had already shown us images of the base also loading its beloved phones as well as its Apple Watch. All these products stay now something unpaired and without the promised official base.
Did you expect Apple to end up doing something like this?