Leaked photos appear to show Apple's canceled AirPower is still very much alive
Remember AirPower? It was an ambitious Apple project to develop a wireless charging pad that you could place your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods anywhere on the pad and they'd charge without having to properly align each charging coil.
It was so ambitious, in fact, Apple ultimately canceled the project in late 2018, a year after announcing the accessory.
Well, you guys wanted a better picture of “C68”... 😏
— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) June 18, 2020
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
Well, if a couple of pictures shared on Twitter early Thursday are real, it sure appears that AirPower is alive and well. The pictures were first posted by Jon Prosser, someone who has accurately leaked information in the past. Shortly after Prosser posted the pictures, another Twitter user replied with the same two photos, only they're zoomed out.
In the picture, we clearly see AirPods and an Apple Watch charging on a device that looks exactly like Apple's AirPower wireless charger.
There is speculation that Apple struggled with getting the Apple Watch to properly charge on AirPower, and issues with heat management were to blame for the cancellation.
However, Prosser previously stated that Apple is using Apple's A11 processor to help with heat management, and as the pictures show, it appears the Apple Watch charging issue has been resolved.
What's unclear right now is, if the photos are real, when Apple plans to announce AirPower. One possibility is Apple will reveal it has figured out AirPower on June 22 during the opening keynote of WWDC, the company's annual developer conference.