The first iPhone with 5G reportedly won’t debut alongside the other new iOS handsets early this autumn. Trusted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts Apple will begin producing a pair of 4G handsets in September, but won’t start making the 5G model until October.
Kuo also says an iPhone SE Plus with a larger screen than the current one might come out far later than he originally thought.
A longer wait for 5G iPhone
The TF International Securities analyst blames the delay in starting production of the 5G iPhone on the COVID-19 pandemic. In a research note released Tuesday and seen by Cult of Mac, Kuo says Apple experienced a one-month delay in starting the all-important Engineering Verification Test for all the upcoming autumn iPhone models.
But that doesn’t mean every 2020 iPhone will be pushed back. “We believe that there is a likelihood that new 2H20 6.1-inch and 5.4-inch iPhones will go into mass production in September,” said Kuo.
Still, the 5G model won’t come out until October. “The mmWave iPhone will be pushed back because the design of the antenna in package (AiP) changes in early April. Additionally, the test lab is closed and can’t offer qualification process services,” according Kuo.
This isn’t the first report that the 5G iPhone has been pushed back until October. Other analysts said the same thing, but few enjoy Kuo’s reputation for accuracy. He exactly described the 2020 iPhone SE in October 2019, for example.
Incidentally, Kuo says the 5G iPhone will have a 6.7-inch screen, bigger than the 6.5-inch one in the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
iPhone SE Plus also delayed
In December, Kuo leaked that Apple is working on a model he called the iPhone SE2 Plus. This will allegedly have a 5.5-inch or 6.1-inch screen, with no Home button. But it won‘t have Face ID either. Instead, Apple will supposedly build a Touch ID fingerprint sensor into the power button on the side.
At that time, the analyst predicted that the larger iPhone SE would come out in the first half of 2021. In his note today, Kuo said, “We think that Apple will likely postpone the new model from 1H21 to 2H21.”
