Apple Battery Charger

Charger

The charger has a white design, with a small indicator light on top that glows amber while the batteries are charging, and green once they are charged. It can charge two NiMH batteries at once, and takes five hours for a full charge.

Apple's main marketing claim for the product was that the charger had a standby power draw of 30 mW, compared to an industry average of 315 mW.

Batteries

The charger was sold with six rechargeable AA batteries that use low self-discharge NiMH technology, have a silver design and no Apple branding, and have an advertised capacity of 1,900 milliampere-hour (mAh). Czech website SuperApple identified the batteries as likely being rebranded Eneloop HR-3UTG 1.2 volt batteries manufactured by Sanyo.

According to Apple, these batteries were designed to have a service life of up to ten years and retain 80% of their capacity even after being stored for a year. Engadget says the Sanyo Eneloop batteries are able to retain 75% of their charge after three years.

Reception

Engadget criticized Apple for selling their charger and six batteries for $29 when Sanyo sold a charger and eight batteries for the same price. SuperApple noted that Apple's then-current wireless peripherals used two AA batteries, but older Apple Wireless Keyboards used three; Apple's charger could only charge two at once.

Apple marketed its battery charger as environmentally friendly due to a lower standby power draw, although Massachusetts Institute of Technology engineering professor Gerbrand Ceder criticized Apple for shipping peripherals that require disposable batteries, instead of non-removable lithium-ion batteries like many of Apple's competitors.

References

References

1. Dziuban, Laura June. "Apple Battery Charger gets official: a battery charger, only you know, better (update: hands-on)".
2. Hughes, Neil. (2010-08-03). "First look: Apple Battery Charger and AA batteries".
3. Rossignol, Joe. (2021-10-04). "Remember Apple's AA Battery Charger? It'll Be a Vintage Product Soon".
4. Laporte, Christophe. (2017-11-26). "Avis de disparition : le chargeur de piles Apple".
5. Burns, Matt. (July 27, 2010). "Apple's Innovative New… Battery Charger?".
6. Bertolucci, Jeff. (July 27, 2010). "Apple Battery Charger slays vampire draw".
7. Ricker, Thomas. (August 12, 2010). "Apple's rechargeable AA batteries are rebranded Sanyo Eneloops?".
8. (12 August 2010). "Apple baterie a nabíječka: hloubkový pohled, který jinde neuvidíte".
9. Hughes, Neil. (August 3, 2010). "First look: Apple Battery Charger and AA batteries".
10. (11 August 2010). "Apple Battery Charger: nabíjí a svítí (Zkušenosti)".
11. Worthington, David. (July 27, 2010). "Apple debuts reusable battery charger".