iPhone 8Source: iMore

What you need to know

  • Apple partners are ramping up iPhone 9 production.
  • But iPhone 12 production may be delayed.
  • Apple isn't sending engineers to help with EVT.

Apple's Taiwanese suppliers are reportedly ready to gear up their iPhone 9 production, according to a new report. But while DigiTimes and MacRumors say iPhone 9 looks to be on track, things might not be so simple for iPhone 12.

We've been hearing rumors of an iPhone SE replacement for months, with iPhone 9 seemingly the name everyone has settled on. Whatever Apple calls it, we've heard rumors that March is a likely release window for the phone. If that's accurate, factories would indeed be ramping up production right about now.

Things look less positive for iPhone 12, however. According to the report, Apple has stopped sending engineers to China which is impacting the Engineering Validation Test (EVT) phase of development. That will reportedly have a knock-on impact on production, preventing iPhone 12 handsets from being built until EVT has been completed.

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Things are very much fluid at this point, though. Nobody knows how the current coronavirus situation will change in the coming weeks. But with Apple likely to announce iPhone 12 in September, its suppliers will need to get through EVT sooner rather than later.

As MacRumors notes, this information comes from the DigiTimes Daily Digest, so it's possible we will be able to glean more when the full report is published. Hopefully, that will happen tomorrow.