Kuo: iPhone Production Will Not Significantly Improve Until Second Quarter of 2020 - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Kuo: iPhone Production Will Not Significantly Improve Until Second Quarter of 2020

Apple's iPhone production will not significantly improve until the second quarter of 2020, according to a research note from Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo obtained by MacRumors. In the past few weeks, Kuo has warned of delays and low labor return rates at Apple supplier factories in China.

iphonelineupguide b
iPhone camera lens shipments from supplier Genius Electronic Optical reportedly fell significantly over the past month, and supplies are dwindling. Kuo predicts there is about a month of lens inventory remaining, with significant production resuming in May at the earliest.

Looking forward to upcoming models, Kuo predicts the 2020 iPhones will maintain the same ultra-wide lens design as the iPhone 11.

Kuo in January predicted that all of the 5G iPhones were still on track to launch in the fall of 2020. More recently, Kuo mentioned that the long-rumored "iPhone 9" or "iPhone SE 2" would still be on track to launch in the first half of 2020 despite the coronavirus outbreak.

With the effects of COVID-19 reaching global status, it remains to be seen how much more of an impact the virus will have on Apple's supply chain.

Related Forum: iPhone

Popular Stories

iPhone 18 Pro Deep Red Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Wednesday March 18, 2026 7:39 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for another six months or so, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component...
ios 26 4 yellow

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for iOS 26.4

Wednesday March 18, 2026 11:56 am PDT by
Apple provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, which means we're going to see a public launch as soon as next week. The RC versions of the software include Apple's official release notes, giving us final details on what's included in the update. Apple Music - Playlist Playground (beta) generates a playlist from your...
Apple Logo Sketch Feature

Apple Has Now Unveiled Eight New Products This Month

Tuesday March 17, 2026 9:25 am PDT by
Apple has unveiled a whopping eight new products so far this March, including an iPhone 17e, iPad Air models with the M4 chip, MacBook Air models with the M5 chip, MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, an updated Studio Display, a higher-end Studio Display XDR, and now the AirPods Max 2 this week. iPhone 17e features the same overall design as the iPhone 16e, but it gains Apple's...

Top Rated Comments

outskirtsofinfinity Avatar
79 months ago
Kuo seems to have a pretty solid understanding of how this virus thing is going to play out. He should brief the CDC, who still seems to be uncertain.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
79 months ago

Amazing how the 24/7 news hungry media can cause such a panic over a common cold virus. Amazing.
Yes nations are literally trashing their economies because of the media....
I’m not saying you should panic but this isn’t a common cold. Spanish flu (a common cold by your logic) killed 50m people with a much less connected word.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
79 months ago
Demand didn't go away. It's just on hold for some markets.

The freak out will end sooner or later.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
voraciousvegan Avatar
79 months ago

Amazing how the 24/7 news hungry media can cause such a panic over a common cold virus. Amazing.
Except it's not just a "common cold virus." How often does the common cold lead to pneumonia & life-threatening respiratory illness? What's amazing is people's willingness to be blind. Outbreaks have happened before in history where millions have died -- why can't they happen again?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fairuz Avatar
79 months ago

it’s not a cold but just a flu. Death percentage is less than 10% of the number of people who caught it. The people who are dying already have health issues. Most people with no health issue will just show signs/symptoms of a normal flu. The influenza flu this 2019-2020 season already reach 4,800 death in the US. The flu season isn’t even over yet. Maybe you should stay indoors just to be safe.
This isn't a flu. And the average flu death rate is much, much lower. More have died from it because millions were infected, not a few tens like with coronavirus.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Scottsoapbox Avatar
79 months ago

Kuo seems to have a pretty solid understanding of how this virus thing is going to play out. He should brief the CDC, who still seems to be uncertain.
It's not rocket science: closed factories don't make iPhone parts. iPhone parts needed to make iPhones.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)