MacFormat UK – June 2019

macformat.com @macformat

iTUNES TO

BE SPLIT INTO

THREE APPS

8 | MACFORMAT | JUNE 2019 macformat.com @macformat

A

irPower, Apple’s

long-awaited and

much-discussed

wireless charging mat, has

been cancelled. Dan Riccio,

Apple’s senior vice president

of hardware engineering, said

in a statement to TechCrunch

that development was ended

because it “will not achieve

our high standards”.

AirPower has long been

plagued by rumours that

Apple was struggling to make

it work. Whispers from the

supply chain claimed the

design – which would let you

place your devices anywhere

on the mat – would overheat

to unacceptable levels.

Still, the feeling was that

this was a mere delay, not a

terminal problem, making

the cancellation all the more

surprising. The packaging

for the second-generation

AirPods – released just days

before AirPower’s fate was

disclosed – mentioned the

wireless charging pad by

name, suggesting the move

was made quite late in the day.

It is almost unheard of for

Apple to preview a product

like AirPower (which was

teased at Apple’s September

2017 event) and then cancel it.

If you still want a multi-device

wireless charger, check out

this issue’s head-to-head

review on page 90.

T

he idea of your Mac wirelessly

charging your mouse and keyboard

isn’t new, but Apple is still working

on it. In a recently released patent, the

company lays out its latest ideas for getting

your peripherals juiced up.

The patent describes a system whereby

an iMac or display could have wireless power

transmitters embedded in the underside of

its housing. These would be used to send

power to receivers in the body of the

accompanying keyboard and mouse.

This would mean that you would no

longer need to charge your keyboard and

mouse when their batteries run down.

Future iMacs could wirelessly charge your mouse and keyboard

Apple may split iTunes

for Mac into three apps

for music, video and

podcasts. Developer

Steve Troughton-Smith

has claimed to have

found evidence of the

split, while developer

Guilherme Rambo has

said he has seen the

apps’ icons. The apps

are likely to be based

on Apple’s Marzipan

framework and released

in macOS 10.15.

Gerard Williams III, the

lead designer for the

A-series of chips from

A7 through to A12X, has

left Apple. He was an

Apple stalwart, having

worked on the chip

inside the iPhone 3GS,

and by the time of his

departure was in charge

of the whole system-on-

a-chip used in iPhones,

including the processor,

graphics capabilities,

secure enclave, image

processor and artificial

intelligence cores.

Instead, you wouldn’t even have to think

about charging them – it would just happen

automatically, as long as your devices were

within about a foot of the power transmitter.

This transmitter would be angled downwards

to ensure good coverage for peripherals on

your desk, and there would be one on each

side of the Mac to maximise coverage.

Apple has previously explored the idea

of sending power over communications

systems such as Wi-Fi and mobile data.

As always, the release of this patent

doesn’t mean that it will be implemented

into a product, but it is a hint at what Apple

is interested in doing.

APPLE

NEWS

ROUNDUP

MAC WILL GET

MUSIC, TV AND

PODCASTS APPS

LEAD CHIP

ARCHITECT

QUITS APPLE

DEVELOPED A

TO A12X CHIPS

FOR iOS DEVICES

The layered-coil design of AirPower

reportedly made it overheat.

Wireless charger

officially canned

Wireless charging for

peripherals would be

very convenient.

Wireless power for peripherals

Apple cancels

AirPower