Oliver Haslam·

Apple AirPower Price Leaked, IKEA Tradfri Gets HomeKit, Amazon App Adds ARKit Support

With the iPhone X arriving in a couple of days and Apple seemingly in overdrive ahead of the big day, there is quite a bit going on in the world of Tim Cook and company. That’s good news for us enthusiasts.

Right here we have three stories that we think might be of interest without necessarily requiring an essay each.

Let’s get started with the news that the pre-announced AirPower wireless charging mat could be somewhat pricey. We always knew that it wouldn’t be cheap, but according to a new report, anyone wanting the slab of electricity to charge their iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods will need to hand over as much as $199 for the privilege. The AirPower charging mat recently appeared on Polish online retailer X-Kom’s website for 999 Złotych, or around $199 based on how much similar products in the store are labelled at in the United States.

We don’t know whether the price is a placeholder, of course, but we would unfortunately not be too surprised if $199 turns out to be at least semi-accurate when the AirPower mat is released in early 2018.

Moving on, we have IKEA’s Tradfri smart lighting range. The retailer has been touting HomeKit support for Tradfri for months now, but it has finally come good on its promise. With HomeKit support now in the bag, those with Tradfri hardware can control it alongside other compatible devices, so long as they have a Tradfri gateway hub in place.

IKEA has been selling such a hub for some time now, so it’s possible one is already in place for those who will be interested in this news. Unfortunately, HomeKit support only extends to bulbs within the Tradfri range currently – dimmer switches etc are not yet supported.

Speaking of retailers, Amazon has jumped onto the ARKit bandwagon by updating its own iOS app to take advantage of iOS 11’s augmented reality capabilities. In a move that should come as no surprise, Amazon’s use of its new “AR View” feature allows users to take products from its catalog and virtually place them in their own physical world. Want to know whether that new 65-inch TV will look too large in your small room? No problem – ARKit will show you!

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