Apple’s AirPower Wireless Charger Might Not Work With Other Devices

Apple revealed during its iPhone event earlier this week that it’s going to release a wireless charging accessory later this year called AirPower. It’s basically a large wireless charging pad that can charge multiple Apple devices simultaneously. Even though it will support the open Qi wireless charging standard, it may not work with other devices.

Apple demonstrated during the event how the AirPower accessory can be used to charge an iPhone 8, an Apple Watch Series 3, and AirPods all at the same time. The new iPhones, AirPods case, and Apple Watch all support Qi wireless charging.

Most Qi wireless chargers on the market right now only allow for one device to be charged by one base station. In theory, I can use my Galaxy S8’s wireless charger to charge the iPhone 8.

It remains to be seen if Apple is going to allow its AirPower wireless charging accessory to be used for charging other Qi-enabled devices, including smartphones from its rivals Samsung and LG.

Apple is a member of the Wireless Power Consortium which mentioned that Apple’s adoption of the Qi standard is going to pave the way to “ubiquitous access to wireless charging.”

Nevertheless, there’s no clarity as yet on this matter from Apple itself so in order to find out for sure, we’ll have to wait until the AirPower charging accessory is released later this year.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Apple, Gadgets
Tags: AirPower, wireless charging