While the coronavirus pandemic continues, some businesses are still feeling its effects. And that includes Apple, which, according to a new rumor, may still be feeling the impact later this year when it plans to launch new iPhones.

According to a report from Mac Otakara this week, Apple’s planning on still launching its iPhone 12 lineup, which will feature LTE- and 5G-enabled iPhones, before the end of 2020. However, while the company’s track record has traditionally seen it announce new iPhones at the beginning of September and then launch those devices before the end of the month, that may not happen this year.

According to sources within the Chinese supply line, Apple is looking to launch LTE iPhones before the end of October, but the company’s first 5G iPhones won’t launch until sometime in November. It’s still possible Apple will host its iPhone event in September, and the company will announce the varying launch dates during that event.

Of course, nothing is certain quite yet, and it’s still a ways off and plenty of different things could change or fall into line so Apple doesn’t have to make any delays. As it stands right now, though, there have been a lot of rumors suggesting a delay of some kind is awaiting all of us looking forward to new iPhones later this year. And the coronavirus has been a main culprit for most of those rumored delays.

As it stands right now, it feels like an almost safe bet that Apple is going to, at the very least, stagger the iPhone 12 launch later this year. Indeed, we reported back in April that many analysts believe this will be the case as well. That report actually pinned part of the delay on Apple’s own antenna-in-package (AiP), along with the coronavirus.

When Apple does get around to launching new iPhones later this year, we are expecting to see four different models in the iPhone 12 lineup. The first will be the iPhone 12 with a 5.4-inch display, while another will have a 6.1-inch display. And then the iPhone 12 Pro will reportedly also boast a 6.1-inch screen, while the iPhone 12 Pro Max will feature a 6.7-inch screen. All four models are expected to have OLED panels, a change from years previous.

A delay in iPhone launch isn’t unheard of, of course. The iPhone XR, for instance, was announced in September but Apple didn’t launch it until October. So while we may have a longer delay on our hands this year, at least it’s not completely out of left field, all things considered.

Source: iDB