Apple is developing a charging mat for several types of devices, and is also exploring wireless charging technologies that work from a distance. This is reported by Mark Gurman and Debbie Wu of Bloomberg, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The closest to release is a wireless charging mat. It looks like the “killed” AirPower. His concept was to simultaneously charge several types of devices without being tied to a specific place. AirPower also displayed the charging interface directly on the iPhone screen. That is, you could put your smartphone, Apple Watch and AirPods as you like on this mat, without thinking about whether you got to the right position or not.

AirPower was announced in 2017, but the project was publicly closed in 2019 due to the impossibility of implementing such a technology. According to sources, Apple faced overheating and system instability.

At the moment, there are several charging stations that are conceptually close to AirPower, but they still do not allow charging the Apple Watch – the watch has a too small induction coil:

None of these mats support take-and-place charging for your Apple Watch. Usually this is a specially attached base that you need to aim at. However, in fairness, it is worth clarifying that Apple at one point abandoned the idea of ​​charging Apple Watch on AirPower, publishing the following render on the website:

Also, these charging mats do not display the charging process of the watch or headphones in the iPhone interface. Coolers are also sometimes stuffed into them, because it is almost impossible to avoid overheating in a device with a large number of coils. And Apple just wanted to make a thin charging mat.

In general, instead of AirPower, the company made MagSafe. And this is a rather elegant solution: you will definitely not miss this rug, and the iPhone will definitely be charged.

But this is not AirPower. Watches and headphones still need to be charged somewhere, and native solutions don’t look neat.

Rumors that Apple is continuing to work on AirPower after the device was “canceled” emerged back in March 2020:

And here’s a new batch of rumors. This time from the reputable publication Bloomberg. This sounds very intriguing!

The company is also exploring remote wireless charging technology. A similar technology has already been announced by Xiaomi:

There are no details about Apple’s technology. But Xiaomi has already told a lot of details about the future station. However, both companies are still very far from implementation. And it is not yet clear whether we will see at least some of these devices on sale.