Long after the undertaking was scrub for unrevealed reasons , Apple ’s unreleased AirPower charger remains a fascinating glimpse of how thing could have been . And even now , we ’re determine new things about the product andits potentiality .
Ashort video clipposted to Twitter / X on Sunday indicate , in fact , that it could successfully charge an Apple Watch . An Apple Watch Series 4 is rate on a prototype of the AirPower charger , and begins to charge .
Prototype Apple AirPower with 16 coils ( PROTO1 ) charging a Prototype Apple Watch Series 4 ( DVT ) . It ’s amazing that Apple Watch charging works , contribute wireless chargers today in general ca n’t saddle Apple Watches . However , the Apple Watch on AirPower incur quite warm.#appleinternalpic.twitter.com / GfywG3KZS9
This might not vocalize all that impressive , give that Apple ’s original marketing materials clearly showed an Apple Watch among the gadget being charged on AirPower . Its shtick , after all , was that it could power up an iPhone , an Apple Watch and an AirPods case at the same meter , and juggle the throughput intelligently in such a way that each was charged as efficiently as potential .
But that ’s where thing get complicated . Apple never fully explained why itcanceled the AirPower projectin 2019 , but generator suggest that the scout part of the equation was the problem . Either that the curving convex rear was too difficult to adapt to a matted charging mat , or that making the two devices work together caused insurmountable overheating .
Yet neither of those things seems to stop the prototype model from work with the Series 4 in the TV despite no Apple Watch models working with stock Qi charging mats ( even if you could get it to lay flat).Teardownshave shown that AirPower is nothing more than a Qi charging mat with tidy sum of coils , so it ’s not clear-cut how the Apple Watch and AirPower communicate — but it shows that the Apple Watch could work with standard Qi load gym mat if Apple wanted .
It ’s believably deserving mention that acertainamount of heat was detected . The tweet indicate that the vigil gets “ quite fond , ” and that ’s not generally a great sign . But still , it falls far abruptly of the account abound into flame that some report claimed around the fourth dimension of cancellation . And in that signified comprise a victory and vindication for the sick - fated mathematical product .
There are mass of chargers that can bill an iPhone and an Apple Watch ( take our roundup of thebest MagSafe iPhone charger ) , but they all require an Apple Watch charge puck either work up - in or attached separately . peradventure someday Apple will turn on universal Qi charging for the Apple Watch , but due to the convex bottom it seems unbelievable .
Belkin
The closest third - party 3 - in-1 wireless charging resolution is the Belkin Boost Charge Pro 3 - in-1 Wireless Charging Pad with MagSafe . Unlike the AirPower , it includes a raiseable Apple Watch charger , so can be used in Nightstand modality . It is fully Apple certified so can charge an iPhone 12/13/14/15 at up to 15W , and degraded - charge any Apple Watch from Series 7 on . It is useable verbatim fromAppleandBelkin , in either white or black .
