Nikkei: 'iPhone 12' Final Assembly Could Be Delayed to Early October

Apple's "iPhone 12" lineup is facing mass production delays of between four weeks and two months because of postponements caused by factory lockdowns and workplace absences during the global health crisis, according to a new report from Nikkei Asian Review.

"What the progress looks like now is months of delay in terms of mass production, but Apple is doing everything it can to shorten the postponement. There's a chance that the schedule could still be moved ahead," one source told Nikkei.

"Some final iPhone assembly could be delayed to early October, and it wouldn't be surprising if there are further delays because there are still a lot of tests going on now and the final designs have not yet been locked down," the person said.

According to the report, Apple has aggressively tried to cut delays and is now less likely to postpone launch of the ‌iPhone‌ 12 until next year, which was the situation it faced towards the end of March.

That is in agreement with a report from The Wall Street Journal in late April that said Apple still plans to launch its ‌iPhone‌ 12 lineup in 2020, but mass production on the devices will be delayed for around a month.

On the other hand, Apple supplier Broadcom believes the 2020 ‌iPhone‌ models will be delayed for several weeks, and will launch later than usual in the fall.

Apple has reportedly asked suppliers to build more than 45 million ‌iPhone‌ XR, ‌iPhone‌ 11, and iPhone SE units for the second half of 2020, as a way of shielding the company in case of delays to its new 5G iPhones.

Information from Bloomberg continues to suggest that some of the new iPhones could be released "multiple weeks later than normal," though still within the typical fall window.

Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that the mmWave 5G iPhones could potentially see a delay due to changes to the antenna package made in early April and delays in qualification process services.

Apple is expected to launch four ‌iPhone‌ 12 models this year: One new 5.4-inch device, two 6.1-inch models, and one 6.7-inch handset. Kuo still expects the 6.1 and 5.4-inch iPhones to go into mass production in September, while mass production on the larger 6.7-inch ‌iPhone‌ will be delayed until October because of its more complicated design.