On Tuesday, Apple sent out invites for its fall event which is scheduled for September 12 this year. At the event, which is accompanied by the tagline “Wonderlust” in the invites, Apple is expected to make a couple of hardware announcements. Without a shred of doubt, the iPhone 15 series will be the headline of the event.
Rumors have already made it clear that Apple is set to announce four new iPhone models this year in the iPhone 15 lineup – iPhone 15, iPhone 15 Plus, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Recently, we have seen several reports that Apple is facing production issues with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and its shipments might be delayed by 4 to 6 weeks.
Today, noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has come up with a report on production issues faced by Apple in the iPhone 15 series. Here are some of the interesting tidbits from Kuo’s report.
iPhone 15 updates / iPhone 15更新https://t.co/K5SFMSdLiv
— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) August 30, 2023
Camera lens issue resolved
Kuo mentions that the stacked CIS issue has been resolved now and Apple did it by increasing the production capacity. While the company is not facing issues now, it has still affected about 10-15% of shipments of standard iPhone 15 models. For those who are unaware, Kuo mentioned earlier this year that two standard iPhones will adopt stacked-designed CIS. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are touted to feature 48-megapixel camera sensors using a stacked CMOS image sensor (CIS) design.
Titanium frame issues
It is heavily rumored that Apple is replacing the stainless steel frame of iPhones with a titanium frame. While only Pro and Pro Max models are expected to feature the titanium frame, there are rumors that Apple is facing difficulty in adapting to the design change. Kuo says, “The production challenges of titanium frames are high processing difficulty and significant design changes during development.”
The titanium frame is expected to bring a significant weight reduction to iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Thankfully, the titanium frame issues have now been resolved by Apple by improving production yield.
According to Kuo, canceling solid-state buttons for the iPhone 15 series threw a major design challenge in the production. Earlier this year, it was rumored that Apple would replace the physical volume and power buttons in the iPhone 15 series with solid-state buttons. However, recently, Kuo himself cleared that Apple has pushed the solid-state buttons to the iPhone 16 lineup. This sudden design change has been a major factor behind production issues.
iPhone 15 Pro Max delays
A multitude of reports mentioned that iPhone 15 Pro Max shipments will be delayed due to production issues. Kuo says that iPhone 15 Pro Max “was the last to kick off, so mass production schedule lags behind other models” . Therefore, it is very likely that the upcoming high-end iPhone model might not be available at the same time when other models will be launched.
iPhone 15 colors
In addition to giving an update on production issues, Kuo has also weighed in on the iPhone 15 colors. According to him, iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus could be available in black, pink, yellow, blue, and green colors. iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, on the other hand, could arrive in gray, white, black, and blue colors.