Customers eager to buy Apple’s most exciting iPhone upgrade in three years may have wait longer than expected. Complications in adding a new edge-to-edge screen for the smartphones could delay their arrival in customers’ hands from the usual September launch date to October or November, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote on Monday.
Apple had to custom order some of the cutting-edge components of the overhauled model of the iPhone, which outsiders have dubbed the iPhone 8 or 10th anniversary edition iPhone. The problems stem from the new OLED screen and the changes required to sensors and cameras, Kuo wrote. The processing chip running the phones, Apple’s custom A11, is also being manufactured on new 10-nanometer scale equipment, further complicating matters, Kuo wrote.
However, the delay and severe shortages for the new model are not expected to affect new lower-end editions that will not have the new screens and will largely resemble the exterior design of the past three iPhone models, Kuo wrote.
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Apple itself hasn’t said anything about the new iPhones or promised when they will be announced. Coins2Day reached out to Apple for comment on the report and will update this story if a response is received.
After suffering its first-ever annual decline in iPhone sales last year, Apple has a lot riding on the new phones anticipate this fall. The company was late to pick up the trend of larger phone screens until it introduced the 6 Plus in 2015. Now, Asian rivals like Samsung and LG have beaten Apple to the punch with better-looking, edge-to-edge screens.
Rumors have been circulating for weeks that Apple (AAPL) is facing possible production delays with the next version of the iPhone. But analyst Kuo has a stronger track record of accurately reporting on Apple’s supply chain than many websites, which publish all manner of rumors about the iPhone maker.