A recent research note from well-connected Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo warns that Apple’s iPhone production will not significantly improve until the calendar second quarter of 2020.
The research note (via MacRumors) contains Kuo’s latest warning of delays and low labor return rates at Apple suppliers’ facilities in China.
The report mentions that iPhone camera shipments from Genius Electronic Optical fell significantly over the past month, and supplies are dwindling. Kuo believes there is around a month of lens inventory remaining, with significant production likely not to resume until May at the earliest. Kuo predicts the 2020 iPhones will maintain the same lens design as the iPhone 11.
Kuo in early February lowered his iPhone shipment forecast by 10% to 36-40 million units in the first calendar quarter of 2020, due to the coronavirus outbreak that is affecting the iPhone supply in China.
The effects of the COVID-19 are only now reaching global status, so the full effect of the virus on Apple’s supply chain remains to be seen.
