It's possible the next-generation Apple iPhone will come out a bit later this year than expected. According to a recent report, the iPhone 6 could hit retail stores' shelves on Tuesday, October 14, instead of in September.
Website MacRumors writes that a source citing an internal Apple retail store meeting says a store leader emphasized October 14 as being an "immense" day and that the entire month of October would be busy.
Apple has been said to be planning an iPhone 6 and iOS 8 reveal event for Tuesday, September 16 with a release sometime soon after. The company is also reported to unveil the iWatch, new Macs, new iPads, and OS X Yosemite in October with an October release for all products. Given these timelines, it's unclear if the "immense" October 14 date has to do with the iPhones, or if its referring to other Apple devices.
Still, it's come out recently that Apple may be experiencing production issues with the next-gen iPhones. Apple will apparently be releasing two models of the iPhone 6: a 4.7-incher and a 5.5-incher. It's in-cell touch panel problems and sapphire displays (also rumored for the larger iPhone) that have some saying the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 may be delayed all the way in 2015.
"Production bottlenecks on 4.7-inch iPhone 6 center on the yield rate of in-cell touch panel and metal casing," KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote in a report. "As in-cell touch panel becomes larger in size, the edge of the panel may become insensitive to touch. Meanwhile, under new manufacturing process for the iPhone 6 metal casing, color unevenness is an issue."
A delay that great seems unlikely, however, given the intense demand for a larger-screen iPhone. Android, Apple's main competitor in the smartphone marketplace, has many phone offerings with displays topping 5 inches. Apple, meanwhile, just hit 4 inches with the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s, with previous models being in the 3-inch range. Consumers have flocked to heftier devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, and Apple must now the time is now to enter the fray before losing fans.
The Apple iPhone 6 is rumored to feature the new 64-bit 20-nanometer 2GHz dual-core A8 chip along with 1GB RAM. The camera could also finally get a megapixel boost up to 13, however, there may still be differences between the 4.7-inch and the 5.5-inch iPhone 6. The larger iPhone could feature a 128GB variant, the aforementioned sapphire display, and optical image stabilization for the camera.
Full-scale production of the iPhone 6 is set to begin soon, and Apple has ordered a record-breaking amount from manufacturers in order to meet the swelling anticipation and demand.
For more stories like this, follow us on Twitter!
