Apple’s ambitious project with AirPower promised to revolutionize wireless charging by allowing multiple devices to charge simultaneously without having to worry about their exact alignment. After its cancellation in 2019, AirPower became a small technological legend that we never got to see in full operation, leaving many of us wondering what could have been. Now, thanks to an Apple prototype collector, a leaked video has surfaced giving us a glimpse of what AirPower promised.
We were very close to seeing universal charging on Apple devices
The video, posted by a user known as “Apple Demo” on X, shows a functional prototype of the AirPower charging an Apple Watch Series 4. This specific prototype has 16 coils, although there are others with 14 and even 22 coils.
The remarkable thing about this demonstration is that, for the first time – although we had already seen the device charge several models of iPhone – we see AirPower charging an Apple Watch, something that standard Qi chargers cannot do due to the watch’s charging technology and its form factor.
According to the collector, the Apple Watch, a prototype of the Apple Watch 4, heats up considerably during charging on the AirPower, which we now know was one of the reasons why Apple decided to cancel the product before its launch.
Despite the cancellation of AirPower, the video shows how close Apple was to launching a truly innovative solution for wireless charging. Although the company has moved forward with the introduction of MagSafe —with many advantages of its own and several interesting prototypes—, the vision of AirPower for wireless charging for all our devices, including the Apple Watch, is extremely compelling.
