Apple is pushing back the production ramp-up of its flagship iPhones coming later this year by about a month, people familiar with the changes told the Wall Street Journal. As the coronavirus pandemic weakens global consumer demand, the company also reduced the expected production of the new devices this year, the paper said.
Apple is forging ahead still with plans to release four new iPhone models later this year, the WSJ said. This includes its first 5G iPhones. The new devices will come in three sizes—5.4 inches, two measuring 6.1 inches, and one at 6.7 inches, all featuring OLED screens.
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 report said.
Furthermore, Apple is slashing the number of handsets that it plans to make in the second half of this year by as much as 20 percent, one of the people said. It wasn’t clear whether the production would be pushed into 2021 for manufacturing.
Apple has delayed iPhone shipments in the past. In 2017, the high-end iPhone X went on sale in November following production glitches, while the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus went on sale in September.
The company declined to comment.
