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Apple's plans for wireless charging mat are dead

By Allen Cone
On its newsroom website, Apple touts "the new Apple-designed AirPower mat, coming in 2018, can charge iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods simultaneously." Photo courtesy Apple
On its newsroom website, Apple touts "the new Apple-designed AirPower mat, coming in 2018, can charge iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods simultaneously." Photo courtesy Apple

March 30 (UPI) -- Apple has cancelled plans to produce the AirPower wireless charging mat, saying the product does not reach its standards.

In 2017, the company said it was developing the product as capable of wirelessly charging an iPhone, AirPod headphones and an Apple Watch at once.

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"After much effort, we've concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards and we have cancelled the project," Dan Riccio, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Engineering, said in a statement sent to Tech Crunch. "We apologize to those customers who were looking forward to this launch. We continue to believe that the future is wireless and are committed to push the wireless experience forward."

At a press gathering that included unveiling the iPhone X and iPhone 8, Apple said the charging mat was "coming in 2018." But that never happened.

"This is a major black eye for Apple. A product that was touted by Tim Cook himself never even makes the shelves, it's a complete shocker," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives told CNBC. "Does not move the needle financially speaking but it's a hit to the golden Apple brand."

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The company seemed to have problems with heat management interference, as well as charging accuracy and speed.

"If AirPower was overheating, which is what some had said, Apple could not bring it to market," Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi told CNET.com. "Considering others have multi-device mats, Apple could have brought to market a different design, but I think that would have been even more disappointing."

Samsung produces the Wireless Charger Duo.

AirPower had been planned to help devices communicate with each other to manage power consumption.

On Monday, Apple announced a new video-streaming service, a news subscription plan and an Apple credit card.

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