Supply Chain Rumor Says You May Finally Be Able to Buy AirPower Soon

Someone may want to go check on hell, because it looks like Apple’s long-delayed AirPower wireless charger has finally entered production. It’s been more than a year since the device was announced at the 2017 iPhone launch, but it has since been beset by delays and engineering snafus.

If this latest supply chain rumor is true, then AirPower could be available for purchase during the first half of 2019. Chinese tech news outlet ChargingLAB tweeted Saturday that “credible sources” in Apple’s supply chain had signaled that the ball was finally rolling on the device, which was supposed to hit shelves in 2018.

To back up its report, ChargingLAB also shared tweets of a screenshot showing a message from an alleged source within a Chinese electronics company called Luxshare Precision. Inverse translated the DM using Google translate and it aligned with ChargingLAB’s claims, which say that the AirPower is being manufactured by Luxshare and Pegatron, two Asian Pacific electronics companies.

Should We Believe the ChargerLAB Report?

AirPower’s potential customers might not want to break out the champagne just yet, as ChargerLAB’s record on iPhone leaks is a bit spotty. It reported early in 2018, for example, that the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR would come with a 18W USB-C fast charger. In that case, they were right about USB-C fast charging, but were wrong about the destined device: Those components shipped with the iPad Pro.

Make of that what you will, but, it does seem likely that Apple would have overcome the reported overheating and interference issues that prevented the AirPower from coming to market thus far. The Cupertino-based company also has a track record of hosting product launch events in March, so there is precedent for this kind of Spring timeline, too.

Trusted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also has said he expects the AirPower to debut “early 2019.” This time frame seems to line up with ChargerLAB’s report (not only that, Kuo predicts that the AirPods will receive a wireless charging case early in 2019 as well).

Apple has been tight-lipped about the delayed charging mat. It was first teased during the announcement of the iPhone X at the Steve Jobs Theater on September 2017. It’s supposed to be a charging hub for three of Apple’s mobile products, the Apple Watch, the AirPods, and the iPhone, but squeezing all that hardware into a single product has proved difficult.

Most AirPower rumors estimate it will cost somewhere around $150. After nearly 18 months, it may finally be time to start saving up.