Speaking on an earnings call following the publication of Apple’s (stratospheric) third-quarter earnings, company CFO Luca Maestri revealed the iPhone 12 line up will be delayed.
08/01 Update: acclaimed Apple insider Jon Prosser has added more context to Apple’s iPhone 12 release news. He tells me that the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro models “are staggered so they want to try to line them up the best they can before announcement.” This suggests we could be seeing different levels of stock for the entry-level and Pro versions at launch and availability is likely to vary significantly, depending on which model you buy, if Apple can’t balance this ahead of their new launch timeframe. Apple has already worked miracles to get these new iPhones to market close to their normal timeframe, but it looks like there will be some rough edges to their release as a result.
08/02 Update: Jon Prosser has given me further information on the iPhone 12 line-up saying that “the smaller notch is mostly confirmed”. There has been much speculation about whether or not Apple will reduce the size of the notch on its new range, with Prosser having been an early advocate of this. In recent weeks, however, doubts have crept in, with several leaks saying the notch will be unchanged from the one first introduced with the iPhone X in 2017.
What does remain up in the air, however, is just how much smaller it will be and whether it will shrink enough to improve the look of the iPhone range, which has started to look dated compared to the hole punch designs widely adopted by rivals. That said, none of those rivals are trying to fit in Face ID.
This is something of a surprise given a) the iPhone 12 launch event is understood to be the earliest in years, and b) retail stock was expected to be in small supply initially, rather than specifically delayed. That said, Maesrti had good news saying supply will be “available a few weeks later [than usual].”
For context, Apple launched the iPhone 11 range on September 20. By this measure, and given Apple is a big fan of Friday retail dates, that would peg the release of the iPhone 12 line-up for October 2 or October 9. Considering Apple’s love of under promising and over delivering, October 2 would be my bet.
But perhaps the biggest question is whether the iPhone 12 models are worth waiting for? Certainly, they get a lot of the big details right but Apple also appears set to controversially downgrade their battery capacities and increase prices while also scrapping popular catch-up screen tech.
It’s a gamble. But at least you now have an extra “few weeks” to make up your mind.