Apple announced the AirPower charging mat back in September 2017 with a promise to release it next year.
This year is not the first time thatreports that Apple has resumed work on its controversial wireless charger. Now photos of an alleged prototype of the new AirPower have also appeared on the Internet.
AirPower Output
The image is low resolution.But we can see an upcoming product that is known as the "C68" and looks almost identical to the original AirPower charging mat that was scrapped last year. This may seem strange to some, but it is quite possible because the problems with AirPower lie internally. Apple had problems with the internal layout due to the presence of multiple overlapping coils that tended to overheat.
The situation did not help the Apple Watch, whichuses its own charging method, which requires more energy. In previous prototypes, when employees put the Apple Watch on a charging pad with other devices, it was claimed that AirPower simply overheated and, in most cases, “burned out”.
The version shown in the photo issupposedly uses Apple's A11 Bionic chipset internally for "dynamic heat management." Such a prototype reportedly has the ability to “direct energy to specific areas of the coil” and wait until “the temperature drops before delivering more energy— preventing it from overheating."
It looks like the wireless charging mat is allis still in the early stages of prototyping. But reports say that a portless iPhone is slated to launch in late 2021, making an introduction alongside this flagship product highly likely. Of course, if the Tim Cook-led company can get a prototype ready before then, an early launch is certainly possible.
John Prosser later now shared two moreimages that supposedly more clearly show the revived AirPower charging mat. Production is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2020 or in the first quarter of 2021.