Analyst claims production delays for the iPhone 12 and iPhone SE Plus

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has shared his latest investor note on the Apple iPhone 12 lineup, the iPhone SE and the iPhone SE Plus.

According to Kuo, the online qualification process for the iPhone 12 has started remotely and "local employees" are delegated more tasks. As a result, there is a one-month delay in the engineering verification testing for the iPhone 12 models.

Kuo added that the 5.4-inch and 6.1-inch iPhone 12 models will enter mass production in September while the 6.7-inch iPhone 12 will only enter mass production in October due to "the most complicated" design. Moreover, recent changes to the antenna design is another possible reason for the delay.Kuo's claims are in line with recent reports of the launch of the iPhone 12 being delayed.

The mmWave iPhone will be pushed back because the design of the antenna in package (AiP) changes in early April. Additionally, the test lab is closed and can’t offer qualification process services. If the pandemic can’t be controlled well until July, then we think that the shipment allocation of mmWave iPhones will decrease to 5–10% from 15–20%.

For the iPhone SE, Kuo says the first weekend of pre-orders is likely to exceed expectations, but “that the market didn’t have a high expectation” going into the release. He predicts shipments of 12-14 million units in Q2 and 10 million units in Q3.

The release of the iPhone SE could have a bigger impact on Apple's profit margins based on Kuo's analysis. Due to the economic uncertainity caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, Kuo feels consumers are inclined to buy the iPhone SE instead while sales of the iPhone 11 lineup could drop. Therefore, he is lowering his Q2 2020 iPhone shipment estimates by 30%. 

As for the rumoured iPhone SE Plus, Kuo expects Apple to launch it in the second half of the year. He initially predicted that Apple could launch this model in the first half of the year, but the timeline has been affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

Besides the delay in production for the iPhone 12 and iPhone SE Plus, there are reports that the release of the 5G iPad Pro with Mini-LED display being pushed to early 2021. It remains to be seen if the other five rumoured Apple products with Mini-LED displays could be delayed as well.

Source: 9to5Mac

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