Apple’s iPhone 8 Could Be Delayed To November, December

Apple’s iPhone 8 is reportedly being delayed until November or December due to low yield rates at its two main original design manufacturers (ODMs).

According to DigiTimes, which cited Economic Daily News, the two ODMS for the upcoming iPhones — Foxconn Electronics and Pegatron — have not reached production levels that would result in mass production of the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) phone. The news comes amid other stories indicating production of the new iPhone 8 had already started.

The report noted Foxconn has around 95 percent of orders for the OLED model as well as small-volume orders for the 4.7- and 5.5-inch iPhone models. Meanwhile, Pegatron is producing 65 percent of the 4.7-inch iPhone 7s and a small amount of the OLED phone. Taiwan-based design manufacturer Wistron will manufacture the 5.5-inch model.

Volume production of the models is expected to be in full swing in August, one to two months past previous mass production schedules on new iPhone devices, noted the report.

The Monday news comes after other reports cropped up about delays for the iPhone 8. The term “a sense of panic in the air” is almost never indicative of a good situation. According to an internal Apple source’s recent interview with Fast Company, that is the current description of things as the company’s Cupertino, California, headquarters confronts software problems in the much-anticipated iPhone edition due this fall.

Those software issues, according to the source, could cause shipping delays for the 10-year-anniversary edition of the phone or result in the phone launching without all of its major features enabled. That’s a difficult situation for a phone that experts believe will sell for $1,200 a pop and is expected to come fully-loaded with features no iPhone has ever had before.

The name for the OLED iPhone still remains up in the air, with speculation that it could be the iPhone Pro, the iPhone 8 or the iPhone X.