Is AirPower Already ‘Too Little, Too Late?’

Following a week of daily hardware announcements — iPads on Monday, iMacs on Tuesday, and AirPods on Wednesday — Apple now appears to have thrown a curveball, with no new product announcements today. With all other recent predictions having basically come true, it seemed a given that yesterday’s AirPods release would be followed up by the debut of the company’s long-awaited AirPower charging mat this morning, or perhaps the rumoured iPod touch refresh.

While of course the week isn’t over yet, after all of the other early-morning announcements, this morning’s silence on Apple’s Newsroom site is deafening by comparison. This leaves us to wonder whether AirPower is actually about the see the light of day — after all, there’s certainly been enough evidence to suggest an imminent release — or whether Apple is still holding it back for some other mysterious reason.

To make matters even more interesting, Twitter user Michael Bateman uncovered a new AirPower image referenced — but not displayed — within the source code of Apple’s updated AirPods page. The image, which shows an iPhone XS on top of the AirPower charging mat, is clearly new, providing additional evidence that AirPower is still coming, but indirectly raising even more questions about when it’s coming.

While Apple has been known to play things close to the vest when it comes to new product announcements, the fact that the image was hidden within a CSS stylesheet could also be interpreted to mean that the release of AirPower isn’t as imminent as we may have hoped. Similarly, the report yesterday that Apple had approved mass production of AirPower earlier this year, still doesn’t necessarily point to a release date.

Perhaps the biggest indication that AirPower may still be a ways off, however, is that Apple didn’t choose to release it yesterday. While Apple’s other announcements this week could easily be staggered as they were for unrelated products, Apple’s new wirelessly-charging-capable AirPods and its AirPower wireless charging mat are two products we actually expected to see announced at the same time.

A Missed Opportunity?

If anything, despite all of the evidence that seems to indicate AirPower is coming soon, it’s this week’s release of the new AirPods by themselves that actually suggests that we may still have to wait a while.

Now that AirPods support wireless charging, it’s a huge missed opportunity for Apple to not have what is basically a companion product available for ordering on the same day — especially if the company was planning to subsequently release it only a day or two later, after many customers have already ordered the new wirelessly-charging earbuds and possibly even other wireless charging pads to go with them.

In fact, despite all of the hype surrounding AirPower, we’re starting to wonder if its ship has already sailed. As the final wireless charging accessory falls into place in the form of the new AirPods, Apple may have just missed its last, best opportunity to release the new charging mat.

After all, there are a lot of other wireless charging accessories available — and for considerably less than what AirPower’s asking price is likely to be. Most users with a recent iPhone model have probably already bought a Qi-compatible wireless charger; anybody who was holding out for AirPower would have given up a long time ago. Of course, Apple promises the elegance of being able to charge an iPhone, Apple Watch, and the new AirPods, all on a single mat, without worrying about positioning, and even providing charging status on the iPhone. These features certainly help to justify AirPower’s (likely premium) price tag, but it’s going to be a hard sell to convince users who have already given up and moved on to other similar, high-quality Qi chargers rather than waiting for AirPower.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]