Mark Gurman, Bloomberg:
Apple said in September that the iPhone X and iPhone 8 could be charged wirelessly. It recommended charging hubs from Mophie and Belkin, an unusual move for the consumer-hardware specialist. Apple also announced its own AirPower charger, but said it wouldn’t be released until 2018.
And:
Company engineers have been toiling away to address problems. One challenge is making sure the charger doesn’t overheat. Another is the complexity of the circuitry, according to people familiar with the device’s development.
And:
Unlike wireless chargers on the market today, the AirPower is designed to charge three devices simultaneously: an iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods with a still-to-be-released wireless charging case.
And, the point I think is the heart of the problem:
Apple also wants users to be able to place any of their devices anywhere on the charging mat to begin a charge. That ambitious goal requires the company to pack the AirPower with multiple charging sensors, a process that has proven difficult, the people said.
If you take apart a Qi wireless charger, you’ll find a coil of fabric-coated wire, the induction coil behind the physics of wireless charging. That coil is always round, and the chargers you buy are typically round as well, keeping the case design at its smallest form factor.
Here’s a video showing a tear-down of a Samsung Qi charger. Jump to about 3:58 in to see the coil.
Apple’s AirPower charger is oblong, not the same shape of the existing, circular Qi chargers. Some physics to solve for there. There’s also the complexity of a number of objects placed in unpredictable proximity on the oblong coil and it seems understandable that this is a tricky problem to solve.
Add to that:
The AirPower charger is also more advanced than the current competition because it includes a custom Apple chip running a stripped down version of the iOS mobile operating system to conduct on-device power management and pairing with devices. Apple engineers have also been working to squash bugs related to the on-board firmware, according to the people familiar.
This is a complex piece of engineering.
UPDATE: Interesting tweet from Jeff Guilfoyle, with a picture of overlapping coils. The idea being the controlling circuitry would switch between coils as needed. Interesting.
Traditional “wireless” charging is hardly that, it’s just simple induction. Apple is trying to take that to the next level, and it’s a fiendishly hard problem. If anyone can do it, they can, but the physics around it aren’t easy.
More broadly, it seems Apple’s main mistake here is announcing these things so aggressively. It’s always a tension, but as of the last few years they seem to have swung a little too much to the pre-announce side. I suspect after the HomePod and AirPower, they’re going to be a little more conservative.
One hopes.
Well, the problem is, they need to fight the “Apple is DOOOOOMED” narrative. Everyone expects Apple to pull rabbits out of hats every year. Not announcing things will start a negative media cycle with real consequences.
As it is, look at what’s happened with the Mac nervousness after WWDC.
I wish Apple could publish roadmaps like enterprise companies do.
I will not use wireless charging because of tests and articles that I have read suggesting that it wears down the battery prematurely. Not worth the convenience at all. Not to mention I use a magnet to attach my iPhone and I would have to remove the case and the metal insert before charging. But, if Apple were to create a different wireless charger which does not wear the battery prematurely, I may try it.
Wasting all this time and effort on a overpriced Qi charger when your hardware lineup is stale to downright moldy (Mac mini). The massive profits of the iPhone now allow Apple lose focus and chase silly ventures like wireless chargers and autonomous cars.
I’d love to know the rationale for that claim. It seems unlikely to me, but that certainly doesn’t mean impossible.
(That’s not against you, James, it’s the articles I’m suspicious of.)
It always surprises me when people thing engineers are replaceable parts. An updated Mac mini is late? It must be because the engineers that should be working on it are playing with wireless induction fields!
They said 2018 which gives them 6 more months.
I have not read anything I would consider conclusive as of yet, but Google something related to it and you’ll see plenty of suspicion and some testing that makes it seem likely, or possible at least. Enough so, that I don’t want to risk it.
This one is fairly recent, I have read a few others too.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/iphone-x8-wireless-charging-will-wear-out-the-battery-faster-than-cable-charging/
Completely agree on the announcement stuff. They need to have things much more baked before announcing them. One of the strengths of Apple in the past is that not only are the products excellent but they get you hyped… and then let you buy them almost right away.
Plug and Play Engineer 3.14.
Her’s an article refuting it, and a link in that article suggesting it is true. Although some say it is because of the excess heat during wireless charging. There are other “theories” too. Since there is some debate, I’d rather not use it for now.
https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/does-wireless-charging-degrade-your-battery-faster/
I’m more concerned about preannounced-product delays that affect their credibility with people who aren’t Wall Street analysts.
So you didn’t read anything before posting or you would know it’s much more than that.
I’m still waiting.. like an idiot.
Why do you think showing your ignorance is a good thing?
There’s no need for personal attacks.
“This is a complex piece of engineering.”
This hardly seems like the main reason that “Apple’s AirPower wireless charger is taking so long to make.” All Apple products are a complex piece of engineering. And Apple doesn’t typically announce products until they are ready to be released or are confident of their announced release date. [Of course, technically it’s still 2018, so they aren’t late.] Still, this looks like an unexpected delay; something must have gone wrong.