‘iPhone Edition’ Likely Won’t Ship Until October or Later

Apple’s 10th anniversary flagship, which is currently known around the web as ‘iPhone 8’ or ‘iPhone X’, could potentially be rechristened ‘iPhone Edition’, according to a report that was published this morning by the Japanese blog, Macotokara.

While also suggesting that Apple is currently testing several different prototypes of the device, without having officially settled on a final design or material choice, Macotokara goes on to allege that a few ‘minor hold-ups’ will be the reason that iPhone Edition actually launches within the months following its anticipated, September 2017 debut.

To be more specific, Apple is currently entertaining prototypes both with and without a physical home button, as well as those encompassed by glass, aluminum, and ceramic outer casings. Interestingly, the report also cites that Apple is testing units featuring both TFT-LCD and OLED displays — even though, pending any unforeseeable manufacturing issues, the top-tier iPhone is almost certain to ship with an OLED display.

Due in part to the extra time that it’s taking Cupertino to settle on a final design for the device, the company has yet to enter the ‘design validation testing’ phase of development — a crucial step in the initiation of large scale manufacturing. As it is, the company seems to be vacillating on a final design; so while the ‘iPhone Edition’ will almost certainly be unveiled alongside the iPhone 7s and 7s Plus this September, the top-of-the-line handset more than likely won’t ship to expectant customers until much later this fall — or possibly even next year, according to the report.

The report goes on, however, to suggest that at least one aspect about the device has been finalized thus far — its “5-inch display.” Now, it’s possible that the report could be referring to the usable display area here, while not factoring in the rumored ‘function area’ that will sit at the bottom of what’s actually expected to be a 5.8-inch display, according to earlier reports from KGI Securities analyst, Ming Chi Kuo.

Adding fuel to the fire of Macotokara’s allegations is another report, published this morning by the French blog, igeneration, which is cautioning that Apple’s greatly-enhanced 3D imaging sensors, destined for the ‘iPhone Edition’, might not be ready in time for a full-scale September 2017 launch.

According to igeneration’s supply chain sources, these previously rumored, next-generation camera optics are currently being built in collaboration with a firm called STMicroelectronics at Apple’s Grenoble research center in Crolles, France, which sources say is exclusively dedicated to the California-company’s imaging technologies.

Without citing its client by name, STMicroelectronics CEO, Carlo Bozotti, recently went on record publicizing a contract that’s he alleges is poised to generate “substantial revenues” for his firm during “the second-half of 2017.” And so, if the client is Apple, as igeneration believes, the timing would lend even more credence to a ‘later-than-September’ launch window for the ‘iPhone Edition’.

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