Oliver Haslam on March 29, 2020, 4:19 am

Apple’s Suppliers Are Worried Nobody Will Buy The 2020 iPhones, Here’s Why

There’s been a ton of back and forth by various analysts and supply chain insiders this week, largely focusing on whether Apple still intends to launch its 2020 iPhones in September.

There’s a school of thought that coronavirus will prevent it from happening, either because demand will be low or manufacturing delays remain an issue. The latest report says the former is the case.

That report comes via Reuters with an official at one of Apple’s partners supposedly saying that orders for the March quarter are likely to be around 18% lower than normal. The production ramp-up for the 2020 iPhones has also reportedly been postponed, suggesting that a September announcement is no longer in the cards.

“No one is talking about manpower or material shortage (in China) anymore. Now everyone is looking at whether demand from U.S. and Europe could keep up,” said the person, who has direct knowledge of the matter. “The focus now is the demand from consumers in the U.S. and Europe.”

We’ve previously heard that Apple hasn’t been able to send engineers to China in order to sign off on the final production plans because of coronavirus, so this might all match up. Ultimately the launch of a new iPhone isn’t the biggest thing the world is dealing with now, but with September still six months away, we’re hopeful that things have improved somewhat by then.

That’s a hope that will be shared by Apple and its shareholders.

(Source: Reuters)