Production of the iPhone 14 Max has reportedly been delayed by as much as three weeks following a Covid-19 lockdown.
Nikkei Asia is claiming that production on the forthcoming fresh addition to the iPhone line has fallen behind schedule following month-long Covid lockdowns in China.
From late March, Shanghai and its surrounding areas fell prey to China’s unexpected zero-tolerance Covid-19 policy. While these areas are starting to open up once again, one executive with an Apple supplier claimed that the pace of this reopening is “rather slow”.
Apple has apparently responded by telling suppliers to speed up production development, but ultimately, initial production volumes of the iPhone 14 Max could suffer.
The reason the 14 Max is seemingly affected by these delays and not the other models in the iPhone 14 range is that it’s an all-new model, and thus subjective to a process Apple calls new product introduction, or NPI. This involves running through the production process with supply partners ahead of mass production, followed by a series of verification processes.
While Apple hasn’t officially commented on these specific allegations, it did confirm during its last earnings call that the recent Covid lockdowns in China had affected production, and that it could hit its revenue by as much as $8 billion.
The iPhone 14 Max is expected to slot into the range between the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Pro. It’ll have the internal capabilities and design of the iPhone 14, but a large 6.7-inch display like the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
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