Apple Pushes Launch Of Next iPhone To November Due To Significant Hardware Upgrades

The first iPhone to be launched in 2017, which is referred to as iPhone 7S or iPhone 8, could be in November instead of August or September. KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says mass production of the next Apple flagship would be delayed. The few months of delay is because of significant hardware upgrades on the upcoming iPhone.

Forbes reports that among the upgrades to the next iPhone are the shift to an OLED screen from the LCD display that Apple uses, the possible elimination of the Home button, and upgrade of cameras. However, Ming-Chi Kuo warns that the delay would have a negative effect on the 2017 calendar year figures for Apple whose customer often delay upgrading their iPhones while waiting for the launch of a new flagship.

9To5Mac adds that besides the report from the KGI analyst, Japanese newspaper Nikkei also claims the next iPhone could be delayed until late October or November. Besides the use of OLED screen, it cites changes to wireless changing components and new circuit boards as the reasons behind the delay in the launch of the next Apple flagship.

The Nikkei report says Samsung, Apple’s competitor and supplier of OLED screens, is facing challenges in delivering the order of the Cupertino-based tech giant. The South Korean company targeted to mass produce in May the OLED displays that Apple would use for the next iPhone, but it pushed back the mass production to late June.

CNBC adds that when the next iPhone would come out, it may appear slow compared to the Samsung Galaxy S8 when downloading movies and music or surfing the web. It cites a CNET report that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip that the Galaxy S8 sports has the Snapdragon X16 LTE modem with capability to provide Gigabit LTE download and upload speeds. The current wireless standard in the U.S., 4G LTE, has a speed of 100Mbps, but the Gigabit LTE offers 10 times the speed.