Apple begins charging customer credit cards for AirPods ahead of shipping (U: Orders now shipping)

Update: Customers in Australia have now seen their orders ship with an arrival date of 12/19.

According to a handful of customers who placed their order early on Tuesday morning, Apple has started charging the credit cards of customers who ordered AirPods. While orders have yet to start shipping, users beginning to be charged suggests that shipments will begin sooner rather than later.

The earliest arrival date for AirPods ordered on Tuesday morning is Monday, December 19th. It appears that select customers outside the United States were the ones lucky enough to receive that date. In the United States, early customers received an arrival date of Wednesday, December 21st.

So far, customers who have been charged appear to have ordered as soon as AirPods went live on Apple’s website earlier this week. As time progresses, those who ordered later will begin to see charges on their credit cards.

While this is purely speculation, it’s possible that Apple will get AirPods to customers a bit earlier than the arrival listed upon ordering. Given that cards are being charged now and Apple Stores will start receiving AirPods stock on Monday, those with December 21st arrival dates may very well see their order arrive before then, perhaps on December 19th.

As of right now, it doesn’t appear that any AirPods orders have actually shipped yet, but Apple beginning to charge buyers suggests that shipping will be occurring at some point in the near future.

AirPods were available with a reasonable shipping window for about 1 hour on Tuesday morning. After that, shipping times began to slip very quickly and currently sit at 6 weeks in the United States. If you missed out, Apple Stores are expected to start selling AirPods in stores on Monday, December 19th.

Have you been charged for your AirPods order yet? Let us know in the comments.

Thanks Uwe!

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