'Very Odd': Apple Ditches Plans For AirPower Wireless Charging Mat

Apple has scrapped its development of the AirPower wireless charging mat, following a lengthy delay of the product, according to multiple reports.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company originally announced the AirPower mat in September 2017 alongside new products including the iPhone X.

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AirPower—which was supposed to be capable of charging multiple devices at once—was initially targeted by Apple for a release in 2018. Numerous Apple events came and went without the AirPower materializing.

On Friday, multiple outlets quoted an Apple executive saying that AirPower has been cancelled. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Apple has "concluded AirPower will not achieve our high standards," said Dan Riccio, senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple, in a statement to outlets including CNBC and TechCrunch. "We apologize to those customers who were looking forward to this launch."

Images of the AirPower disclosed by Apple showed an oval-shaped charging mat large enough to fit an iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods. The AirPower would rely on Qi wireless charging, the industry-standard inductive wireless charging technology, Apple said.

Despite the delays, hopeful signs about AirPower had persisted. Last July, well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities predicted that AirPower would ship in the fall of 2018—which turned out to be a rare incorrect prediction for Kuo.

Even the packaging on Apple's new version of AirPods, which launched this week with support for wireless charging, mentions the AirPower charging mat, CNBC reported.

"The whole thing is very odd, and maybe the tip of the iceberg of issues in Apple's product teams," said one executive at a solution provider partner of Apple, who asked to not be identified.

With a major push into services, "I'm wondering when they will get their product glory days back in action," the solution provider executive said. "They should have the cash to do so."

Still, "here in North America, iOS is still very much on top and with more connected services will probably continue," the executive said.