iPhone 12 & Coronavirus: production returns to normal rhythms
Update: On an unexpected note, Foxconn has made it known that he has resumed normal activities, and that he has recruited enough manpower to make up for the “seasonal demand” (assuming it still exists, after what we are experiencing). This means that the easing of the Coronavirus squeeze – together with the “rigorous sanitary” measures implemented in the production plants – are giving Chinese citizens their daily lives back. Net of any new setbacks, in short, iPhone 12 and 5G should arrive smoothly.
These days, several parallel and connected things are happening. While concern about COVID-19 is mounting increasingly in the US, the Southwest (SXSW), a well-known Austin film festival, is being canceled; In the meantime, Tim Cook offered to work from home wherever possible. Finally, reliable Bloomberg sources reveal that iPhone 12 with 5G is likely to slip in October 2020.
in standby mode
The great events that once represented an opportunity to meet friends and potential business partners, and to admire the news of every sector of the industry, today constitute a threat to health. And so, with a view to limiting human interaction as much as possible – and therefore the spread of the virus – Cook has given the go-ahead to smart working for the vast majority of its corporate employees.
But the real problem for the apple is another, and concerns the impossibility of respecting the product range. In theory, in September we should have seen the launch of the iPhone 12 in variants with and without 5G; in fact, the chain delays introduced by the Coronavirus on the assembly line could push the apple to postpone its launch for at least a month. So no Apple event in September as usual, but in October. And it is to be hoped that things will not fall again.
Yes, because the launch of the iPhone 9 – which now seemed to be a done thing, despite the difficulties – also risks being “postponed for a few months.” In fact, Apple fears that, in a similar context, demand may remain too low. Therefore, the idea is to wait for developments and understand if production will rattle again in April and May: at that point, the recovery of operations would constitute a litmus test of the state of affairs, and it is likely that when the supply chain is restored there is also a reinstatement of demand.
