An Apple store in Sydney, Australia.
Bloomberg News
Apple is reportedly delaying a fall launch event for its next batch of iPhones to the “latter half of October.”
The tech giant was forced to push back its traditional September keynote address due to production delays caused by the coronavirus, according to a tech blog. Apple is now on track to release its 5G iPhones just in time for the all-important holiday season, Japanese Apple blog Mac Otakara reported.
Apple AAPL, -4.55% is expected to announce four new iPhones at the fall event, with the 5G models not hitting stores until November, while the lower-end LTE phones will be available to customers shortly following the keynote, according to the blog.
The October date is in line with previous reports that the iPhone 12 line faced delays due to “practical hurdles” caused by the coronavirus.
Apple typically sends engineers back and forth from its offices to its factories in China to finalize designs in the lead-up to the product’s release. But coronavirus lockdowns led Apple to restrict employee travel to hotbeds of the disease in recent months.
All of the new phones are expected to feature high-end OLED displays, but Apple is rumored to not be including a complimentary power adapter or headphones in the box.
OLED screens are more power-efficient than their LCD counterparts, and can display darker blacks and brighter colors. It first introduced OLED with the iPhone X, and had previously reserved it only for its more expensive models.
The four new iPhones will come in three different screen sizes — the established 6.1-inch and 6.7-inch displays, as well as a smaller 5.4-inch screen.
