Oliver Haslam on August 3, 2020, 7:43 pm

Apple’s iPhone 12 Lineup Might Ship In Two Phases According To Report

Apple recently confirmed during its quarterly earnings call that the 2020 iPhones won’t ship during the usual September timeframe, instead coming “a few weeks later”. But according to a new DigiTimes report, they might actually ship in two phases.

Apple is expected to launch two iPhone 12 and two iPhone 12 Pro models this year with screen sizes ranging from 5.4 inches to 6.1 and 6.7 inches. Now, DigiTimes reports that some of those models will ship before others rather than them all arriving at the same time in October.

Apple may launch its 5G iPhones in two stages, with two 6.1-inch models in the first and another two 6.7- and 5.4-inch devices in the second, the sources said, adding that suppliers of SLP (substrate-like PCB) mainboards for the former models have recently kicked off shipments, with those for the latter to start in late August.

Shipments of flexible boards for new iPhones will peak some 2-4 weeks later than usual this year, the sources said.

This phased launch might explain why we’ve seen conflicting reports as to whether the iPhones will launch on time or not, with the general consensus being that the coronavirus pandemic has impacted Apple’s usual design and manufacturing timelines.

Following DigiTimes’ timeline, we might be seeing one iPhone 12 and one iPhone 12 Pro model ship simultaneously, both with the same 6.1-inch screen size. That would give buyers a mid-range and high-end option on day one, with the larger and smaller screen sizes coming later.

However, DigiTimes does have a flakey record with these kinds of things – we’d all do well to keep that in mind when reading these reports.