【Rapsa (2025)】

Apple made some unusual plays this week. Ahead of Monday's "it's show time" event,Rapsa (2025) where the iPhone maker is expected to announce subscription-based video and news services, it hastily unveiled a new iPad mini and iPad Air, iMacs with faster performance, and updated AirPods.

Not a bad way to start spring! But there's an elephant in the room: Where the hell is AirPower?

As of this writing, it has been 549 days since Apple announced AirPower, its gleaming white mat capable of wirelessly charging an iPhone, AirPods (with wireless charging case), and Apple Watch all at once.

AirPower was unveiled alongside the iPhone 8 and iPhone X — Apple's first iPhones with built-in wireless charging — and was supposed to usher in a new cable-free lifestyle.

Following three days of "Christmas in March" earlier this week, Apple faithfuls sat on the edge of their seats on Thursday and Friday morning hoping CEO Tim AppleCook would send a tweet about AirPower. Heck, use the iPad mini photo that launched a million memes for anyone cared. Just tell everyone AirPower is alive and still coming!

But the tweets never came.

Some people joked on Twitter that maybe Cook overslept:

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Others straight up acknowledged reality:

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The flurry of Apple product updates ended on hump day and with it all hopes of AirPower emerging this week.

But is AirPower doomed to haunt Apple forever? Will it be the butt of every joke every time Apple announces a hardware update?

Is AirPower really dead?

Apple's removal of all mention of AirPower from its website suggests it wants you to forget AirPower ever existed, but there's a pile of semi-credible "evidence" that shows the wireless charging mat is still being tested and could even launch by the end of the month.

AirPower might still be alive and well if these sources are to be believed:

• Mar. 19:Code inside of the latest iOS 12.2 beta suggests AirPower almost ready to ship - 9to5Mac

• Mar. 20:Apple reportedly approved production of AirPower earlier this year - Wall Street Journal

• Mar. 21: Image of AirPower with iPhone XS and AirPods wireless charging case discovered on Apple's Australia website - MacRumors

• Mar. 21:Apple secures AirPower trademark after issues with another company, which filed to trademark the name - MacRumors

• Mar. 22:AirPower will launch in "late March" as production for key component ramps up - DigiTimes

Though it's widely believed Apple will not introduce any new hardware at Monday's content-focused event at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park, the company could surprise everyone with AirPower as "one more thing" at the end of the keynote.

The "one more thing" phrase was a favorite of Jobs, but Cook has invoked it before. In 2014, he announced the Apple Watch at the end of its packed iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launch event.

There's still a good chance of AirPower making an appearance on Monday. "We’ve been pretty busy already, but we always keep people guessing," Greg Joswiak, Apple vice president of product marketing, told TIME. Hmm...

It's been a long and bumpy ride for AirPower — its release reportedly hampered by engineering challenges related to overheating charging plates — but it might finally be ready for launch soon.

Surely, the release of the wireless charging case for the new AirPods is a hint that the wireless mat is on its way, right? I sure hope so because I'm tired of people asking me when it's coming out. That, and this beautiful child's quickly growing into human while we wait for AirPower to crawl towards a release:

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At this rate, he's gonna have coded his own iPhone app before AirPower ever comes out. And, well, that would just be depressing.