Another Apple patent filing hints at an AirPower-like charging system

I think Apple’s AirPower system is abandoned, but the tech still files or is granted a patent that hints at such a charging device. A new one is patent number 10,965,162 for “wireless power systems,” though it could involve the MagSafe tech that the company introduced with the iPhone 12 line.

The AirPower (pictured in an image released by Apple almost four years ago) was originally announced in September 2017 alongside the iPhone X. It was supposed to be able to charge a Qi-compatible iPhone, an Apple Watch, and a pair of AirPods (in a special wireless charging case) at the same time regardless of where they were placed on the pad. However, there was constant rumors of production, engineering, and manufacturing difficulties. Seems those rumors were right, as Apple announced in March 2018 that work on the device was being canceled as, in Apple’s words, “will not achieve our high standards. 

Here’s the summary of the invention: “A power system has a wireless power transmitting device and a wireless power receiving device. Coils in the power transmitting and receiving devices are used to transmit and receive wireless power signals. The coils may include pot core coils, figure eight coils, solenoids, and other coils. A solenoid array may extend under a charging surface in a wireless power transmitting device. 

“Solenoids in the array may be separated from each other by small gaps. Solenoids may have rectangular outlines, hexagonal outlines, or other shapes. Pot core coils may have a magnetic material with a circular groove of a groove of other suitable shapes that contains wire windings. Figure eight coils may have first and second adjacent magnetic cores with respective counterclockwise and clockwise wire windings. Magnets and other alignment structures can be used to help align coils in transmitting and receiving devices.”