Apple is pushing back the production ramp-up of its flagship iPhones for this year by about a month, the Wall Street Journal report on Monday citing people familiar with the changes.
Apple is forging ahead with plans to release four new iPhone models, supposedly called the iPhone 12, later this year and the delay was due to the coronavirus pandemic weakens global consumer demand and disrupts manufacturing across Asia, the heart of the consumer electronics supply chain, the report said.
The phones, some with 5G connectivity, will vary in price and come in three sizes — 5.4 inches, two measuring 6.1 inches, and one at 6.7 inches, all featuring OLED screens, the people said.
Apple usually unveils new iPhone models in mid-September and begins selling them before the end of the month. To do so, it usually ramps up mass-production in the early summer, building up inventory around August.
This year, while Apple would still be building some of the new phones in the July-to-September period, the mass-production ramp-up will slide back by about a month, the people said.
Apple is also slashing the number of iPhones that it plans to make in the second half of this year by as much as 20%, one of the people said. It isn't clear whether the slashed amount for 2020 would be pushed back into 2021 for manufacturing.
Foxconn Technology Group — Apple's biggest supplier and a major assembler of iPhones in China — has halted hiring at its main iPhone plant in Zhengzhou in recent weeks, the report cited people involved in the company's worker recruitment operations as saying.
Apple has been doubly struck by the coronavirus pandemic—first in China, where it closed stores and its assemblers shut plants, eroding iPhone supplies — then in the U.S. and Europe, where it had to also shut stores and halt activities at its headquarters in Silicon Valley, the report noted.
Further Reading: Rendered video shows what iPhone 12 Pro Max might look like
Special Report: iPhone 2020: What to expect?
