Taiwan-based suppliers are gearing up for production of a new lower-cost iPhone, a device that has been tentatively referred to as the iPhone SE 2 or iPhone 9, according to paywalled information shared by DigiTimes.
While the lower-cost iPhone may be on track, DigiTimes also reports that Apple has stopped sending engineers to China to assist with the Engineering Validation Test or EVT stage of iPhone 12 development. Last month, Apple said it was restricting travel to China to "business critical" purposes only due to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, which has also forced many Apple suppliers to suspend operations.
As a result, DigiTimes believes iPhone 12 models are unlikely to enter production in June, citing unnamed industry sources. Given the coronavirus outbreak is a fluid situation, though, timeframes may change. If the production delay ends up materializing, it is still very possible that Apple will announce its iPhone 12 lineup in September as usual, even if supply of the devices is tighter than usual.
Rumors suggest that the iPhone 12 lineup will include four new models, including one 5.4-inch model, two 6.1-inch models, and one 6.7-inch model, and each will likely be equipped with a faster Apple-designed A14 chip. DigiTimes expects A14 chip orders to be 50-60 percent higher than A13 chip orders.
All of this information was shared in DigiTimes' Daily Digest for paying subscribers, with the full reports likely to be released by tomorrow.
Update: The full DigiTimes report has been released and, as we suspected, it claims that the iPhone 12 production delays are unlikely to affect Apple's plan to announce the new devices in September.
