Bad news for Apple comes to us today from Asia and is related to the iPhone 12. The crisis coronavirus forced to stop all production, and it does not seem that it will recover in time. According to a report just released by Nikkei Asian Review, the iPhone 12 could take anywhere from four weeks to two months.
According to the report by the Asian agency, which has a lot of information coming from Apple’s supply chain, the start of mass production of the four iPhone 12 models has been delayed due to the coronavirus. Apple has tried to reduce delays by all means, but there is no guarantee that the new models will be ready on time.
iPhone 12 may not launch until 2021
Traditionally, iPhones are presented in September and are put on sale later this month. This year the coronavirus has changed the plans and everything could be delayed, a lot. In mid-March, Apple thought it would have to delay its new iPhone 12s until 2021, but they are working to limit the delay as much as possible.
” Everything indicates that we will be months behind in terms of mass production, but Apple is doing everything possible to shorten the delay. So there is a possibility that the calendar may still go ahead. Part of the final iPhone assembly could be delayed until the beginning of October, and it would not be surprising if there are further delays because there is still a lot of testing in progress and the final designs have not yet been blocked. “
As a countermeasure, Apple has asked suppliers to manufacture more than 45 million units of iPhone XR, iPhone 11, and iPhone SE by the second half of 2020. A strategy to try to maintain sales in case of delays on your new iPhone 12 with 5G.
If production doesn’t start until October, as this Nikkei report says, it’s very difficult for us to see the iPhone 12 this year. Normally, the production of the new iPhone models starts in July, to have several million devices ready when they launch in mid-September. That is, Apple starts production two and a half months in advance, if it begins in October, we would not have iPhone 12 until the end of the year, and hopefully.
In this situation, Apple seems to have three plans on the table:
- Maintain the keynote presentation of the iPhone 12 in September, with immediate but very limited availability of all models, causing long delays in deliveries.
- Follow a strategy similar to that of the iPhone X and XR, that is, a presentation keynote in September, and a launch in several weeks.
- And finally, a keynote delay, so that there is sufficient availability of all iPhone 12 models.
Today’s report is the most pessimistic we have heard. We had already heard reports that insisted on the problems in the manufacture of the iPhone 12, but all spoke of a delay of weeks, not months. We will see if this news is true or if it is too pessimistic in a few weeks when other analysts pronounce.