Whether justified or not – the corona virus is causing dramatic developments worldwide, including on the stock exchanges and on some boards – for example at Apple, where practically all plans for 2020 are currently being overthrown, as internal sources report in unison. All dates of the year are postponed, not only because of production problems but also because of the slump in iPhone sales.
In the latest corona virus issue of its tech magazine, the FrontPageTech YouTube channel host provided a lot of internal information from Apple headquarters, which, however, is unpleasant by the bank and, according to Leaker, is confirmed by several sources, Jon Prosser specifically speaks of five were. The reasons for the following, partly dramatic developments are not only to be found in the smartphone production in China affected by the SARS-COV2 virus, the coronavirus outbreak in parts of California and the dramatically lower demand for iPhones in China apparently play a role major role.
Tim Cook’s internal Apple memo leaked
An internal memo from Jon Prosser not only addresses general precautions regarding the coronavirus pandemic, but also new arrangements for Apple Stores, especially regarding Today At Apple sessions or the changed handling of repairs due to the difficult delivery situation for spare parts. The former were completely canceled, as was the launch event planned for the end of March, which included the iPhone SE 2 aka iPhone 9 aka “iPhone”. Apple has not yet officially announced this event, which is why a public cancellation is not necessary, but internally, according to all interviewed sources, it was expected to be fixed – its cancellation is now also fixed.
Budget iPhone postponed indefinitely
According to the Leaker, Apple has not yet considered a replacement date for the new budget iPhone with Apple A13 SoC and iPhone 8 design, even though mass production has apparently started in spite of the delays in China. The reason why Apple decides to delay the cheap iPhone possibly for months is simply the currently unfavorable economic development, in which most people have completely different priorities than new iPhones – an iPhone launch would probably attract significantly less attention than usual and endanger sales. According to internal sources, Apple could in principle launch the iPhone SE successor at any time, but will probably still wait and see how the pandemic develops.
iPhone 12 probably only in October or November
Last but not least, Prosser also addresses the issue of iPhone 12. The first 5G iPhones from Apple should start like every year in September, but this date can hardly be kept. As several sources cited by the YouTube channel report, the travel blockades have now led to drastic delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, and testing the iPhone 12 prototypes is currently practically on hold. A realistic date for the availability of the iPhone 12 family, which could possibly consist of up to four variants this year, should, from today’s perspective, be delayed at least until October or even November. Incidentally, Apple has so far not commented on any of these internal notes.
