Lately, there’s been a few conflicting reports about the iPhone 15 Pro Max, or the iPhone 15 Ultra. Saying that the phone would be delayed a few weeks, then we saw that it was back to being on time. Now, according to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 15 Pro Max is still behind schedule.
In a note to investors, Kuo mentioned that the iPhone 15 Pro Max was the “last project to kick off”. Which means that mass production for it started later than the other iPhone 15 models. Which does echo a report from another analyst last week, and that it could face delays of 3-4 weeks.
Kuo notes that Apple has faced some challenges with the new titanium frame material that they are using on the iPhone 15 PRo. This challenge includes the “high processing difficulty and significant design changes during development”. He points to the cancellation of the solid-state button project as the biggest factor here.
In case you forgot, Apple was rumored to be moving to solid-state buttons for the iPhone 15 Pro this year. But that was seemingly cancelled due to production issues.
That’s not all that caused delays for Apple
Kuo’s report also mentions that the main production issues for the iPhone 15 Pro Max included the stacked CIS, panels and batteries, on top of the titanium frames. The batteries were apparently expanding when exposed to heat. So that needed to be fixed, obviously.
The stacked CIS issue was resolved by increasing the production capacity, however it is still affecting about 10-15% of shipments of the regular iPhone 15 models. Kuo mentions that Apple changed the supplier shipment ratio helped resolve the panel issue. Remember that Apple does typically use multiple suppliers for the same parts. Because they need so many, compared to their competitors.
Finally, Kuo also mentioned that the titanium frame should contribute to a weight reduction on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Something that we had heard earlier this week.
2023-08-31 15:09:19