Have you wondered why the iPhone Xr won’t be arriving in stores until Oct. 26? Although Apple isn’t giving the reason (and probably won’t), others have. It seems the device’s new Liquid Retina LCD display could be to blame, according to The Verge.
In 2017, Apple released the LCD iPhone 8/8 Plus in September, while keeping the more expensive OLED iPhone X at bay until early November. This year, Apple took the opposite approach. While the flagship iPhone Xs/Xs Max arrives in stores next Friday, Sept. 21, the company’s less expensive iPhone Xr won’t get released until late October.
Back in June, a report from the South Korean publication The Bell said development of the LCD was two months behind schedule. It said suppliers Japan Display and LG Display needed more time than expected to secure yields. In late July, Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty, a noted Apple analyst, said the device’s near bezel-free design would be the reason for the delay.
Interestingly, the problem with LCD might not be a hardware issue.
As Ryan Reith, IDC’s vice president of research on mobile devices told The Verge, “Everything we’ve been hearing, it’s been an issue on the software side. There’s a lot of software involved with the LCD screen, as it’s the first [LCD display] with a notch and full screen.”
Meanwhile, Canalys senior analyst Ben Stanton said to The Verge, “Apple would not delay the launch of iPhone XR for any reason other than the device is not ready to be shipped at adequate volume.” He continued, “The constraint with the device is around the new LCD display, which has bottlenecked production.”
I’m reasonably confident that whatever the reason, the iPhone Xr delay won’t cause Apple any problems, in the short-term or otherwise. The handset will still arrive for the all-important holiday shopping season, which, coupled with the iPhone Xs/Xx Max, could make Apple’s first quarter of the fiscal year 2019 one for the record books.
As a reminder, pre-orders for the 6.1-inch iPhone Xr begin on Friday, Oct. 19.
Which iPhone are you buying this year? Let us know in the comments below.