It's the future. And I'm living in it.
Yep, I thought "Meh" as well. However, the startup tech houses for wireless charging that I had dealings with last year all expected that the new phone would have wireless charging, that it would be Qi compatible, but that it would have "better than everybody else's Qi" capability with the right chargers (larger charging mats, more powerful chargers, much less specific on placement of the phone to charge). I wonder if that's the delay in Apple's charging pads?
Because of lead times on design and production, the phones were always going to have the silicon in for wireless charging, and the expectation was that if the "improved Apple version" wasn't working, it would be disabled in software, and nothing publicised about the boarded-off capability, and possibly it would be rolled out in a later OS launch with a flourish. Clearly they've gone with a mere Qi implementation, and that will amaze and delight the faithful. Whether they've cracked the problem of heat whilst charging I don't know, but if they haven't, then it won't do much for battery life.