This wouldn’t be the first time Apple scrapped a project mid-development. Despite its reputation for innovation, Apple has abandoned, delayed, or outright failed to deliver numerous products over the years. Some were overhyped and underdeveloped.
Others ran into technical and business challenges that proved insurmountable. And a few, like the Apple Car, became too expensive and ambitious for even a trillion-dollar company to pursue.
Here’s a look at some of Apple’s biggest product misfires—and why they never made it to market.
AirPower (2017–2019)
In 2017, Apple teased AirPower, a wireless charging mat designed to charge an iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods simultaneously—without precise alignment. The promise? Drop your devices anywhere on the pad, and they’ll charge seamlessly.
Behind the scenes, however, AirPower was a nightmare to develop. The overlapping charging coils created overheating issues, which Apple engineers struggled to resolve. Additionally, interference between the coils led to inconsistent charging performance—sometimes one device would charge while another wouldn’t.
Apple remained silent for nearly two years before finally pulling the plug in 2019. In an unusual move, Apple publicly acknowledged the failure, stating that AirPower “did not meet our high standards.”
Some rumours suggest Apple is still working on an alternative, but as of today, it remains one of the company’s most public product failures.
Apple Car (2014–2024)
If Apple ever came close to creating an entirely new product category, it was the Apple Car. Under the secretive Project Titan, Apple spent a decade hiring top automotive engineers from Tesla, BMW, and Ford to develop its own electric, potentially self-driving vehicle.
But the project was plagued by constant internal turmoil. Leadership kept shifting strategies, with Apple oscillating between:
- Building a fully autonomous car, similar to what Waymo was attempting.
- Creating a Tesla competitor—a premium EV with Apple’s design and software expertise.
- Focusing only on self-driving software, to be sold to car manufacturers.
Each of these ideas required billions in investment and a level of expertise Apple simply didn’t have. By 2024, the costs had ballooned to over $10 billion, and Apple executives reportedly concluded that the project was going nowhere. Apple officially cancelled the Apple Car in early 2024, laying off employees and redirecting resources to AI.
For a company that thrives on controlled ecosystems, building a car—where hardware supply chains, safety regulations, and decades of automotive expertise matter—was always going to be a challenge. And in the end, even Apple couldn’t crack it.
Ping (2010–2012)
Apple rarely fails when it enters a new market. But its attempt at a social network—the ill-fated Ping—proved otherwise.
Launched in 2010 as a built-in feature of iTunes, Ping was designed to connect users with their favourite artists and friends, helping them discover new music. But the execution was deeply flawed:
- It didn’t integrate with Facebook or Twitter, making it difficult to connect with friends.
- The interface was clunky and confusing, leading to low engagement.
- Spam quickly took over, with fake accounts flooding comment sections.
Even Steve Jobs admitted Ping wasn’t a success. After two years of dismal user adoption, Apple quietly shut it down. Today, Apple Music has social features like shared playlists, but Apple has never attempted to build another social network.
Apple Intelligence (2024–?)
By 2024, AI had become the defining battleground in consumer tech. Microsoft had fully integrated OpenAI’s models into Windows, Google was pushing Gemini, and even smaller companies were racing ahead. So when Apple announced Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024, expectations were sky-high.
Yet, Apple’s AI rollout has felt half-baked at best. Some of the biggest problems include:
- Many features are exclusive to the latest iPhones and Macs, leaving millions of users out.
- Apple’s AI tools lag behind competitors in natural language processing and contextual understanding.
- Key features announced at WWDC are still months away from release—leading to frustration among users.
To make matters worse, Apple is now facing a lawsuit over Apple Intelligence. The case, filed by a group of developers and privacy advocates, alleges that Apple’s AI training methods may have improperly used user data. While details are still emerging, the lawsuit could delay Apple’s AI ambitions further—especially if it leads to regulatory scrutiny.
Unlike hardware failures, AI is something Apple can improve over time. But its slow, fragmented rollout—and mounting legal troubles—suggest Apple isn’t ready to compete head-to-head with the AI giants—at least not yet.
Apple’s Search Engine (Rumoured 2018–Present)
Apple has been subtly building its own search technology for years. It ramped up its web-crawling operations in 2018, hired Google’s former head of search, John Giannandrea, and integrated advanced Spotlight Search and Siri Suggestions into iOS and macOS.
So why hasn’t Apple launched its own search engine? The simple answer is money.
- Apple makes an estimated $18–20 billion per year from Google in a deal that keeps Google as the default search engine on Safari.
- If Apple launched its own search engine and made it the default, it could trigger antitrust scrutiny, especially in the US and EU.
- Competing with Google’s two decades of search dominance and massive AI infrastructure would require an enormous investment that even Apple may not want to make.
Instead, Apple continues refining Spotlight and Siri Search, slowly chipping away at Google’s dominance without ever fully replacing it.
So, what happens to the plastic Apple Watch SE?
The rumoured plastic Apple Watch SE was supposed to be Apple’s answer to budget-conscious parents looking for a smartwatch for their kids. By using cheaper materials, Apple could lower costs while keeping core features like activity tracking and Family Setup.
Yet, there’s strong evidence that Apple might never launch it.
- Plastic Apple products have a bad track record—the iPhone 5C was a sales disappointment, and Apple hasn’t used plastic extensively since.
- Cost savings may not be significant enough to justify an entirely new manufacturing process.
- Apple’s brand is built on premium materials, and a plastic Apple Watch might feel too cheap.
For now, the plastic Apple Watch SE remains another potential entry in Apple’s growing list of “what could have been.”
Also Read: The comeback of smartphone features that were too early for their time
