Most of the companies in the smartphone industry were greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and Apple is no exception. The outbreak greatly disturbed global supply chains and forced companies to close their physical stores. The Cupertino company had a new iPhone 9 planned for a March release. However, its release is now uncertain. Despite all the troubles, the company is keen that the new iPhone 12 series will be ready for this Fall.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple insiders stated the 2020 iPhones are still on the schedule for the usual September release. Each year, the Fall iPhone lineup enters mass production around May, which in turn means that this year’s 5G-enabled iPhones production is still on schedule. The pandemic in China is now under control and factories are nearing their full work capacity.
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However, the forced closure of factories caused massive damage. Besides the iPhone 9, there are other products from Apple severely affected by the pandemic. In some countries, the company has already taken measures and it’s selling only two iPhones per person. Moreover, the new products are going to hit the market with a significant delay. Take by example the new keyboard accessory for the new iPad Pro. It was released recently but will hit the market only in May. That’s a fairly unusual delay for the giant company.
The reason? Apple isn’t outsourcing its assembly lines and manufacturing facilities just in China. There have been issues with the production and assembly in other countries as well, like Malaysia.
It’s easy for Apple to come this fall and announce the new iPhone 12 lineup. However, we need to wait and see how many months the company will take to fill stores and countries with the new smartphone.
