A truly pessimistic report from the Japanese site Nikkei, released on Wednesday, claims Apple and its subcontractors are lagging behind significantly in production of the upcoming iPhone 12.
According to the report, Apple could be as much as one to two months behind schedule. The reason for this, inevitably, is the coronavirus crisis, which wreaked havoc in the early days across many of the Asian countries where Apple bases its manufacturing (and continues to severely affect Apple’s US base).
Apple is working with partners to catch up. The most likely scenario, according to Nikkei, is that the final stages of production will be completed by early October, which would mean a small rather than drastic delay to the launch schedule. However, the site does not entirely rule out the possibility of the iPhone 12 being delayed until next year.
We’ve been hearing all sorts of rumours about delays to the iPhone 12 this year. Back in March we were hearing that it would be pushed back until 2021; by April more positive sounds pointed to a delay of just a month.
It’s hard to know what to believe, and it’s worth pointing out that estimates based solely on subcontractors are notoriously difficult to assess, as Apple relies on so many different suppliers. We’ll find out how badly affected the supply chain has been when the iPhone 12 makes its debut this autumn… or later.
This article originally appeared on Macworld Sweden. Translation by David Price.
