iPhone 8 production has allegedly hit another roadblock, with a sketchy report Tuesday by Taiwanese outlet DigiTimes suggesting the supposedly limited availability of 5.8-inch OLED display panels could hold back the phone's launch sales.
Citing industry sources, the trade publication says it'll be difficult for Apple to ship up to 60 million OLED-based iPhones in 2017.
“Only 3-4 million OLED-based new iPhone devices will be ready for shipping before the new smartphones are unveiled at a product event slated for September,” reads the article.
The publication did not give the reason for the allegedly limited OLED screen availability beyond stating that yield rates at assembly plants and the supply of OLED panels are “likely to become issues” for the Cupertino firm.
Take the report with a few grains of salt because Samsung Display recently negotiated a lucrative supply deal with Apple to build at least 80 million OLED panels for iPhone 8 in 2017.
In fact, the South Korean conglomerate is said to be supplying OLED screens for both iPhone 9 in 2018 and a yet-to-be-disclosed Apple device with a screen measuring 6.5 inches diagonally, as per The Korea Herald.
Besides, iPhone assemblers Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron have been stepping up efforts to recruit more workers for their assembly lines in China, indicating that volume production of iPhone 8 is about to kick off.
On top of that, Apple's key chip supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company saw its revenues surge twenty percent sequentially in May, partly driven by shipments of iPhone 8's A11 processors to Apple.
iPhone 8 mockup top of post via Benjamin Geskin
