Apple to Debut AirPower Wireless Charging Pad by End of March [Digitimes]

With Apple making the dates for its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2018 official earlier today, a new report from DigiTimes about Taiwanese component shipment increases is claiming that the iPhone maker may debut the much awaited AirPower wireless charging pad well before the annual event, most likely by end of this month.

With Apple set to launch its in-house designed wireless charging pad AirPower by the end of March, Taiwan suppliers of glass passivated package (GPP) bridge rectifiers needed to support the device expect their shipments to double in the first quarter of 2018 from a quarter earlier and rise further in the second quarter, according to industry sources.

The sources said that without having to meet the Qi certification standards set by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) as required for wireless charging chips, GPP bridge rectifiers supplied to support AirPower do not involve too complicated technology but require slim packaging specs.

For those who aren’t familiar, AirPower is Apple’s upcoming wireless pad designed to charge three new-generation Apple devices at once, such as the iPhones, Apple Watch and Apple AirPod, all of which incorporate a wireless charging function. 

According to the publication, AirPower will offer a maximum charging capacity of up to 29W, a significant increase from the 7.5W other single-device charging pads currently offer. It is not yet known whether the 29W power refers to the maximum charging capability for a single device or for multiple devices at the same time.

When Apple introduced the AirPower last year, it did not share any information about its pricing, specifications or a particular release date, other than that it will hit the stores sometime in 2018.