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Apple scrubs most references to AirPower from its website

The fate of Apple's wireless charger doesn't look so good.

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Gordon Gottsegen CNET contributor
Gordon Gottsegen is a tech writer who has experience working at publications like Wired. He loves testing out new gadgets and complaining about them. He is the ghost of all failed Kickstarters.
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Gordon Gottsegen
2 min read
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It's been a year since Apple unveiled AirPower, but it's still MIA.

 Claudia Cruz/CNET
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AirPower, where are you?

At its Sept. 12 event, Apple unveiled new iPhones and a new Apple Watch

, but no AirPower. Apple first showed off the wireless charging pad in September 2017, but it's been a full year and the product still isn't on the market. Now, it seems like Apple wants us to forget it even existed.

Apple removed almost all references to AirPower from its website. You used to be able to find out more about AirPower on Apple's product pages for the  iPhone X and iPhone 8. But since then, Apple removed its iPhone 8 product page -- this is only the store page -- and discontinued the iPhone X, removing all of those references.

The only remaining hint at AirPower is this image on Apple's AirPods page:

optional-wireless-charging-case

It doesn't even mention the AirPower name. If Apple had never announced AirPower, one might mistake this charging pad for a generic artist's interpretation.

 Screenshot by Sean Hollister/CNET

If you look hard enough, you may also be able to find an old mention or two -- CNET found a picture and description of AirPower on the iPhone 8 page of the Apple Botswana website.

AirPower was originally supposed to release in 2018, but time is running out.

Why might Apple have removed the references? A handful of reports suggest Apple's having trouble making AirPower actually work as planned. One reported reason is that the multi-coil charging design causes the device to get too hot to function. Another report says that the AirPower chip currently has trouble communicating with the Apple products it's supposed to charge, preventing it from working the way it's supposed to.

This may lead to AirPower getting delayed even further. Or scrapped altogether, as some are rumoring.

Apple didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.