An analyst report today reiterates claims that the OLED iPhone 8 launch could be significantly delayed compared to the debut of the ‘7s’ models, which represent more modest improvements over the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus.
Rosenblatt believes that whilst all three new iPhones will be announced on September 12th at the event, the iPhone 8 release date could be as far out as late October, citing production issues with the stainless steel metal frame.
The Wall Street Journal started off the recent flurry of pessimistic iPhone 8 launch stories yesterday.
It reported that Apple is a month behind its usual production schedule for the OLED iPhone, which will feature a 5.8-inch near bezel-less OLED display, and will suffer severe supply shortfalls.
TechCrunch followed up with a more direct claim that Apple will push back the iPhone 8 launch.
The iPhone 7s devices (tentative naming) are expected to go on sale September 22nd, with Apple typically opening preorders on the Friday following the event itself (so the 15th this year).
The Rosenblatt analyst suggests the OLED iPhone launch would debut at the same announcement event but not be available to the public until late October.
Whilst we have heard about problems with OLED yields many times before, Rosenblatt primarily blames ‘issues with the metal frame’ as the reason for the delayed release date.
Rosenblatt isn’t really known for Apple rumors, so it’s hard to say whether the news is likely to be legitimate. The end of October does seem like an extraordinarily late launch, though.
KGI Securities previously said that all three iPhones will launch at the same time in September but Apple will procure less than 4 million iPhone 8 units for the initial launch period.
As Apple sells in excess of ten million phones on launch weekend alone, be prepared for very constrained supply (and therefore, limited availability) for a long time — even if the new model technically launches in September.
Apple will announce the new iPhones at a media event on September 12, alongside a new cellular-enabled Apple Watch and a 4K Apple TV set top box. Stay tuned for all the announcements.
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