Apple debuted its AirPower wireless charger on stage during its September 2017 iPhone event, and more or less blew everyone away. Wireless charging is nothing new, but the multi-device setup that Apple showed off looked slick and promised to make life easier for Apple Watch owners everywhere.
Nearly a full year later, we’re still waiting for more details about the AirPower. Apple promised a release date sometime in 2018, but as we come up on the nine-month mark, there’s nothing but crickets coming out of Cupertino.
A new report from Chinese website Chongdiantou claims that the AirPower will be released sometime around the 2018 iPhone event, and will cost approximately $150. That’s a lot of money for a wireless charger, and perhaps more than we were all hoping it would be — although, by this point, we should know what to expect from Apple.
A few extra details from Chongdiantou‘s supply-chain sources hint at why the AirPower might be so expensive. It reportedly contains 22 individual wireless charging coils, each of which can be independently controlled to supply power. That’s how Apple is managing to charge the Apple Watch no matter where it’s placed on the charging mat — there’s enough coils to accomodate any placement.
Finally, the report also suggests that all three of the iPhones that Apple will launch this year will be compatible with wireless charging. That’s not exactly a surprise, given that the iPhone 8 and iPhone X launched last year both support wireless charging, but it’s another indication that the AirPower charger will launch alongside the new iPhones this fall.
