Even though reports suggested that Apple is relocating its production activities of some devices to Taiwan, the base iPhone 12 production might be hit if the Coronavirus problem won’t be fully controlled in a matter of days.
The problem is that, even if Apple factories from China continue functioning, the company’s technical team needs to go there and run Engineering Valuation Tests (or EVTs). Apple has stopped its engineers from visiting Chinese plants because of the Coronavirus situation.
iPhone 12 still on the way?
The disturbance in the iPhone 12 production process, however, won’t affect the company’s target of launching a budget model, either the iPhone SE2 or iPhone 9.
Looking at the way things are going in China, it is believed that the production of iPhone 12 models may not commence before June this year. If the situation doesn’t get any worse, likely, the overall schedule won’t see any additional changes.
That is because the region where the SE2 will be manufactured in isn’t concerningly affected by the virus outbreak. Even though it has become a global issue, not all areas of China have reported manifestations of the virus.
The Wuhan area is believed to be the epicenter of the virus outbreak, but that doesn’t affect other regions from carrying on business as usual.
The best alternative to China
If things do get worse in China, Apple still must carry on producing smartphones.
In that case, they can fall back in countries like India to continue the production of some devices, including the entry-level iPhone 12.
We expect to see more updates on the situation’s during the following days, straight from Apple.