There may not be the slowdown in production we expected. but does Apple care?
I’ll tell you a secret: I was thinking of buying the aging iPhone XR recently when I was deciding whether I should go for a new iPhone 14 or just spend very little on one of the best iPhones I ever tested. I decided against it – mostly because I’m finishing a longer-term test of the iPhone 13 Pro Max and I’m intrigued as to what’s coming with the iPhone 14 Max
Then I read, to my dismay, about possible delays to the 2022 Apple handset line-up, especially the new Max (opens in new tab). But then I found myself wondering: would such a slowdown really be a bad thing? After all, the iPhone XR was heavily delayed, and that sold well over the years, so it’s not necessarily a problem for Apple if there are issues this year, too. Let’s rewind slightly: Since last year, rumors have constantly suggested that Apple was going to struggle to get its new iPhone 14 series out on time, especially as a Covid outbreak in Shanghai had caused certain manufacturers of its handset, such as Pegatron, to halt production for a short while. This would obviously have a knock-on effect for anyone hoping for a plentiful supply of new iPhones on launch day – the chances of that are slimmer if they can’t actually be made rapidly at the moment. Is that a bad thing though? Consider the case of the iPhone 13, launched last year.
