Apple’s major assembly partner, Foxconn, has begun trial production of the iPhone 14 Pro, says a report from the Taiwan Economic Times. This suggests that Apple has finalized its design and has moved into the early stages of manufacturing.
The report claims Foxconn will be responsible for the making of Apple’s higher-end iPhone 14 models, while Luxshare will take on production of the two lower-end models. The report says Foxconn will begin OEM trial production of the iPhone 14 Pro to ensure that everything is up to Apple’s standards in preparing for mass production late in the year.
Apple’s iPhone 14 has recently entered into trial production, and it is rumored Luxshare has not yet obtained the new product trial production into mass production service orders (NPI), and will not be able to OEM the best-selling, high-unit price, higher profit high-end iPhone 14, and may only get the basic iPhone 14 orders this year, becoming the second supplier.
After starting the trial production, the foundry has to collect data, correct abnormalities, evaluate the production process and the items that need to be improved, and assess whether the trial production is acceptable.
The iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro are expected to feature a significant redesign. Based on renders from JonProsser, which were created by Ian Zelbo, alleged key features include:
- No notch, with a hole-punch front camera instead
- A thicker chassis, which will allow for no rear camera bump
- A titanium frame
- Round volume buttons similar to those featured on the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5
- Redesigned speaker and microphone grilles (elongated mesh cutouts instead of individual holes on the bottom of the device)
- Lightning connector remains
The iPhone 14 is expected to include a slew of camera upgrades, such as a 48MP Wide camera, 8K video recording, and an improved Ultra-Wide lens.
The iPhone 14 lineup is expected to include four different models, including two 6.1-inch and two 6.7-inch models. The updated iPhone lineup will not include a 5.4-inch iPhone “mini,” first launched with the iPhone 12.
