Highlights:
Apple announced its wireless charging solution, the AirPower mat, back in 2017 alongside the iPhone X. The wireless charger was supposed to be made available in 2018 but that didn’t happen and it was reportedly because the device was facing some technical issues in production. Now, MacRumors reports, via Digitimes, that the wireless charger from Apple has finally entered production and will hit the shelves later this year. This news comes apparently from sources at related suppliers that are manufacturing the Glass passivated package (GPP) bridge rectifier for the Apple AirPower mat.
As per the report, the Taiwan based company Lite-On Semiconductor has been supplying GPP bridge rectifiers for AirPower, for over a year. The demand for it has been “insignificant” but the company’s shipments might pick up some pace when the wireless charger is made available for the masses. “Lite-On Semiconductor has been shipping GPP bridge rectifiers for use in the forthcoming AirPower for over a year, the sources indicated. Lite-On Semi continues to see its shipments for the wireless charging device remain insignificant, but shipments are expected to see a substantial rise later in 2019, the sources believe,” states Digitimes.
This new report is in line with a previous rumoured information of the Apple AirPower mat going into production. The manufacturer Luxshare Precision is said to have started producing AirPower mat, and Pegatron was said to commence mass production of the device on January 21. Luxshare manufactures AirPods and USB-C cables for Apple and it could reportedly provide the components for the AirPower mat, while Pegatron handles assembly.
AirPower might feature a total of three coils in an “8-7-7 configuration.” Previously, a report claimed that, unlike normal wireless chargers which contain a single coil to charge a single device at a time, the AirPower mat reportedly contains between 16 and 24 overlapping coils of different sizes to charge multiple devices simultaneously.
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