About 1 billion people continue to live under quarantine due to the coronavirus epidemic, while companies are seriously affected by pandemics. While some of the companies had to temporarily close their factories due to the epidemic, some of them have problems in procurement, although they prefer to continue working. California-based Apple is also among the companies affected by the coronavirus outbreak. Apple announced that its revenues could drop in the second quarter of 2020 at its meeting with investors when the coronavirus epidemic took over under the influence of China. The information now shows that 5G supported iPhones that Apple should introduce in September can be delayed until 2021. Apple has fallen 1-1.5 years behind its two major rivals, Samsung and Huawei, in the 5G smartphone competition. Although Samsung and Huawei announced their first 5G phones at the beginning of last year, we haven’t seen any 5G moves from Apple. During the development of new iPhones under normal circumstances, Apple engineers in the USA visited Apple suppliers in China to carry out various tests and provided the production line to be established, but the coronavirus epidemic that has been going on for months in China is preventing this work. In fact, Apple had asked its suppliers to prepare for the production of 100 million pieces of four different iPhone models for the first months of 2020. Even the first 5G iPhone prototypes had to have appeared in early May. However, Apple’s plans may have to be postponed due to the pandemic. Apple’s vendors have not yet received a change plan regarding the production date of the new iPhones. Also, contrary to the delay, Apple wants to compensate for the lost time. However, some sources close to Apple are looking to postpone the promotion of 5G iPhones, unlike standard models. Even if Apple solves the problems in the supply chain and overcomes the problems of installing production lines, the continuation of the epidemic in the USA and Europe, which hosts half of the iPhone sales worldwide, may cause the company to step back. In the regions where the epidemic continues, sales of smartphones have already declined significantly. Apple may not want to introduce its first 5G models at a time when phone sales are going down. Promotion of 5G iPhones was expected in September. However, in this case, the launch is said to be delayed for a few months. The worst scenario is the launch of 5G iPhones to 2021. Joey Yen, analyst for research firm IDC, says that delaying plans for new products, such as Apple, can lead to larger problems than whether the supply chain can meet its schedule. Yen says that the weakening of demand for smartphones will cause a much larger economy to suffer than expected. Since Apple has never officially mentioned 5G iPhones so far, the news of the delay is not expected to come directly from Apple. However, the postponement note that the company will send to its suppliers will be reflected in the press shortly.
