In spite of the assorted starts and stops involved in its now-abandoned AirPower wireless charging product, Apple appears to be working on a future wireless charger.
In the latest edition of the journalist’s Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reiterates earlier reports that Apple still intends to create a wireless charging accessory that would charge multiple devices like an iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods all at once.
Apple first announced the AirPower wireless charging mat in September 2017 alongside the iPhone 8 and iPhone X handsets. At the time, Apple said the charging product would launch sometime in 2018, but that didn’t happen. Following months of rumors about development issues, Apple canceled the project in March 2019.
Since then, Apple has introduced MagSafe charging for its iPhones as well as the MagSafe Duo accessory, which can wirelessly charge an Apple Watch and iPhone in tandem, although the Duo is just two separate wireless chargers joined together. At present, the company seems to be planning to release a charging device that can charge up all three products at the same time.
German noted that Apple is still investigating charging solutions that don’t rely on contact-based inductive charging technology. He also stated that Apple is working on “short and long distance wireless charging devices” and that the company “imagines” a future where all of its major devices can charge each other.
The closest Apple has come to this technology is with its MagSafe battery pack, which can receive power from an iPhone when the latter device is plugged in and charging. Given the MagSafe Battery Pack’s reverse wireless charging feature, it seems technically possible that an iPhone 12 or iPhone 13 could deliver power to AirPods or AirPods Pro, but Apple has not yet implemented this feature.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.