With AirPower Canceled, Wireless Charging's Biggest Problem Still Exists

When we first saw AirPower in 2017, Apple announced a fix to the biggest drawback of wireless charging. Two years have passed. AirPower has been canceled. And we’re still waiting for a remedy.

There are tons of solid Qi wireless charging pads and stands and doodads for sale. I personally use this super thin wireless charger from Peel, because it’s inconspicuous and doesn’t have an annoying light. Overall, it works well.

But there is one problem (the biggest problem) that every single Qi wireless charger still has. They require us to place our phones precisely. If we don’t place them just right, or if we nudge them in the night, or they vibrate just a little too much, our phones will stop charging, and we’ll wake up with 7% battery.

Apple tried to solve this by shoving 32 charging coils into a tiny space (most wireless charging pads have ~3 coils). This clearly didn’t work out.

I, for one, am waiting expectantly for somebody (honestly anybody) to design a solution. I’ll happily give them my money.

TechnologyTimothy Buck