An AirPower prototype ‘in action’ was shown on Tech YouTube.

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Tech YouTuber Luke Miani managed to get his hands on three Apple AirPower prototypes, and showed them they’re working — albeit briefly! The 91Tech channel did the same.

The videos provide a very graphic explanation of why Apple was forced to officially abandon the project…

History of Airpower

Originally announced in September 2017 for delivery in early 2018, Apple admitted defeat more than a year after the promised date. Not only was AirPower late, it wasn’t plugging for Cupertino, it wasn’t official.

Why Apple promises to deliver the product, in the end, we can’t know the full story behind what it failed to deliver. What we can safely conclude is that it worked in the laboratory, at which point Apple decided it was good to announce it, but later it was overcome by practical problems in real life use.

Many reports have suggested that overheating is the problem, but that’s something you’d think would be found early on in testing.

Another theory is that having so many coils means the company can’t keep RF exposure below FCC limits. This makes more sense to me since it’s something that can’t be brought to light until it’s well on its way to development.

But whatever the truth, it left Apple in the most awkward position of announcing the product; With high praise; Advertising on the website; Inclusion of references in other products; Because of this, he has to admit to delaying the second-gen AirPods… and finally officially giving up.

“After much effort, AirPower did not meet our high standards and we canceled the project. We apologize to customers who have been waiting for this launch. We continue to believe the future is wireless and are committed to pushing the wireless experience forward,” said Dan Riccio, senior vice president of hardware engineering.

Airpower Prototype

This isn’t the first time someone has gotten hold of an AirPower prototype — we first saw it two years ago.

A video uploaded to Bilibily shows a detailed teardown of several layers of the so-called AirPower.

In the video, we see a total of 14 wireless chargers tightly packed and lined up on the device’s floor, wherever you place Apple devices on the mat.

Another striking aspect of the design is the keyboard-esque metal frame that separates the dense electronics packed inside the wireless charger.

The Dongle Book Pro got its hands on three prototypes that it lent to Mayani. One of the earliest versions was a year before Apple announced the product. That one had 16 coils – and electronics for each one. A second is the latter, with 22 rolls.

The site posted a teaser video online:

It followed the full video on Miani’s website, which you can watch below. Unfortunately, the avatars only work for a second before powering off and rebooting.