During a private investor conference call earlier this week, Apple iPhone assembly partner Foxconn said there is still a good chance that the 5G-capable 2020 iPhone lineup will still launch on time, despite the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic-related delays in the supply chain.
Bloomberg reports that Foxconn did not mention Apple or the iPhone by name, but was clearly talking about the Cupertino firm’s upcoming handset lineup.
“We and the customer’s engineers are trying to catch up the missing gap, after we lost some days due to travel ban. There’s opportunity and possibility that we might catch up,” Yang said. “But if there’s a further delay in the next few weeks, months, then you probably have to reconsider launching time. It’s still possible.”
The Bloomberg report claims test assembly of the new iPhones usually begins in early June, before mass production gears up in August, so there is still plenty of time for Apple to catch up. All of this depends on how well the hundreds of iPhone component suppliers can get up to full production to allow time for Foxconn’s assembly lines to produce the finished product.
Apple is expected to debut four new iPhone 12 models in the fall, all with OLED displays and 5G support. A 5.4-inch model, two 6.1-inch models, and a 6.7-inch model are expected to debut.
