The New iPhone May Not Come Out Until Later Than We Thought
Ever since the original iPhone debuted in 2007, the world has grown accustomed to a fairly tick-tock release schedule from Apple. Every year or two, typically during the summer or sometime in September, Steve Jobs or Tim Cook would appear onstage at a special event to unveil the latest update to the company's flagship device, tick off a suite of brand new bells and whistles to thunderous applause, and announce that they'd be available to customers just a few weeks later. This year, though, a variety of production snags may prevent the hotly anticipated iPhone 8 (or whatever the next phone is officially called) from being announced -- or going on sale -- until much later than initially expected.
According to a number of reports, including one from the world's foremost Apple analyst, the next iPhone may not be available to customers until the end of October at the earliest. Although Apple hasn't yet officially announced a thing about the new phone, this would leave customers hoping to upgrade in a lurch for a month or two longer than they might have been planning. And who knows, judging by the glitches that dramatically delayed the release of the much-heralded AirPod headphones last year, the phone could potentially take even longer to make it into consumers' hands.
According to the reports, the current production delay is likely a result of supply chain issues with a number of the components necessary for a number of the rumored iPhone 8's features, which include a curved OLED screen, the ability to charge wirelessly, a smaller circuit board (to make room for a bigger battery), and face-scanning tech. Specifically, according to the Nikkei Asian Review, Samsung -- which is all but confirmed to be the manufacturer of the the new iPhone's OLED curved screens -- "is facing challenges in delivering what Apple wants, although they are unclear as to what exactly the issues are."
It's also unclear if this rumored snag in production will affect either of the other new iPhones expected to be released alongside the "premium" $1,000 iPhone 8 model, but if you were banking on only having to hold out for five more months, it may be time to recalibrate your expectations.
h/tBGR
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