The presence of the iPhone 14 is threatened with being pushed back from the schedule. The reason is that the development of one of the iPhone 14 models has been hampered due to conditions in China that have not been normal after the strict COVID-19 lockdown.
Although it has begun to be loosened, the lockdown that began in late March in Shanghai, China still has a sizeable effect on the supply chain. As a result, the development of one of the iPhone 14 models was delayed by up to three weeks due to the lockdown in Shanghai.
According to a Nikkei Asia report, Apple has reportedly informed its supplier partners to speed up product development so as not to delay the production schedule, which could then affect the initial production volume of the iPhone 14.
Apple itself will launch four iPhone 14 models this year consisting of the iPhone 14, iPhone 14 Max, iPhone 14 Pro, and iPhone 14 Pro Max. It is not known which iPhone model has been hampered by the lockdown.
Currently, the four iPhone 14 models are in the engineering verification test (EVT) stage. Usually all new iPhone models will complete the EVT process and proceed to the verification stage at the end of June.
After the development process, Apple's assembly partners such as Foxconn and Pegatron will enter a new product introduction (NPI) phase. This stage is followed by several verification processes before mass production begins, usually around the end of August.
"If the development process can be accelerated and progressed to a later stage around late June or early July, then there is still the possibility of meeting the mass production deadline in early September," said a Nikkei Asia source familiar with the matter, as quoted by MacRumors, Thursday ( 26/5/2022).
"But it really depends on whether the process can be accelerated in the near future."
Chiu Shih-fang, an analyst at the Taiwan Institute for Economic Research, said he was not so optimistic that supply chain problems would be resolved in the near future. He said that currently the supply chain in China is still not normal because there are still many restrictions being implemented in Shanghai, but it may not affect the launch of the iPhone 14.
"It will take at least another one to two months to restore the supply chain," Chiu said.