Apple Was Still ‘Fine-Tuning’ iPhone 8 Specs Until Last Week

A South Korean parts supplier for Apple has confirmed speculations that the tech giant could be delaying the release of its first OLED smartphone. The company is even said to have not finalized iPhone 8’s specifications until just a week ago.

On Monday, an official from an Apple supplier based in South Korea did an interview with The Investor on condition of anonymity. The official interestingly dished that Apple was still unable to come up with the final spec sheet for its flagship smartphone until last week. “Apple has not yet informed us the exact supply volume as it was still fine-tuning hardware specifications for the OLED iPhone until last week,” the official said.

The official’s statement has two main points that may easily disappoint Apple fans. First is the idea that Apple was still not certain on how its iPhone 8 should be like until a week ago. The second one is, of course, the notion that Samsung’s biggest rival was still unsure of the supply it intends to make at this point. These uncertainties could negatively impact the expectations for the 10th anniversary model given that Tim Cook’s firm is already known to be launching its new products on Sept. 12.

Further cementing the possible delay is the official’s revelation that his company only began their shipments for Apple’s new iPhone “from late August.” As to what component/s his company is supplying Apple, the official did not say anything save for the fact that his firm typically sends its products to Apple “in the initial phase of the supply chain.”

Another industry source corroborated the claim that iPhone 8’s supply would be limited upon its launch. “Even if the OLED iPhone is launched in September, it will be available in an extremely limited quantity,” the source said. Apple is predicted to be delaying the release of its flagship smartphone to November. This would mean that consumers could end up waiting for their new device for around two months. Worse, not everyone would get their hands on the handset easily due to its limited supply.

Apart from the delayed release and the limited supply, another thing that could irk many Apple fans is the company’s last-minute decision to give up on developing a display-embedded fingerprint reader for the iPhone 8. According to Forbes, several leaks in the previous months revealed that the upcoming flagship phone will feature a fingerprint reader that’s built into the display. Unfortunately, the leaks stopped because Apple couldn’t perfect the technology in time for the launch of its 2017 flagship.

If Apple may have completed its work on the display-embedded fingerprint sensor, it could have been the first in the industry to launch a phone with such an advanced technology. However, it was unable to realize its goal, much like how Samsung gave up on building a display-embedded fingerprint scanner for the Galaxy S8 and the recently announced Galaxy Note 8 due to time constraints.

As of late, Apple is widely rumored to be introducing three new iPhones during its Sept. 12 press event. Aside from the iPhone 8 flagship handset, the company is also believed to be unveiling two “s” upgrades for last year’s models, the iPhone 7s and the iPhone 7s Plus. Unlike the iPhone 8, the other two models are expected to be sporting LCD screens, and they are said to be hitting the market immediately after their unveiling.