Apple yesterday officially announced its iPhone 15 event for September 12, teasing the tagline “Wonderlust.” In a report today, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has some updates on iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro production and some of the challenges Apple has faced thus far.
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According to Kuo, the iPhone 15 Pro Max was the “last project to kick off,” meaning that its mass production schedule is lagging behind the other iPhone 15 models. This echoes an analyst report from last week, which said the iPhone 15 Pro Max could face delays of up to 3-4 weeks.
Kuo also says that Apple has faced production challenges with the new titanium frame material used for the iPhone 15 Pro lineup. The challenge here lies in “high processing difficulty and significant design changes during development.”
The analyst particularly points to Apple’s cancellation of the solid-state button project as the biggest factor here. As a refresher, Apple had initially planned to replace the physical volume buttons and mute switch with solid-state buttons but abandoned those plans due to production issues. That decision was apparently made late enough in the development process to have a lingering impact on mass production.
Other tidbits from Kuo’s report:
- The main production issues were with stacked CIS, panels, batteries (expanding when exposed to heat), and titanium frames.
- The stacked CIS issue has been resolved by increasing production capacity, but it still affects about 10–15% of shipments of regular models.
- Changing the supplier shipment ratio has resolved the panel issue.
- The battery and frame issues have been resolved mainly by improving production yield.
- The titanium frame should contribute to weight reduction.
Apple will announce the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro lineups during its special “Wonderlust” event on September 12, with pre-orders expected to open on September 15.
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