iPhone 15 release date: Apple’s next big launch could be delayed or in short supply, rumours suggest

More expensive ‘Pro’ model likely to be worst hit, reports suggest

(AFP via Getty Images)

Apple’s upcoming iPhone 15 Pro could be delayed or in short supply, rumours are increasingly suggesting.

The phone might not arrive until October – and even then could be hit by stock shortages, according to a run of leaks.

The potential shortage is at least in part the result of issues with making the new screens used in the premium, Pro and larger Pro Max models, according to a new report from The Information. Apple has been working to shrink the bezel around the display, and the new manufacturing process has made it harder to make the new device, it reported.

Even if the phone does arrive on time, it is likely to be hit by stock shortages, the same report suggested.

The manufacturing issues come at the point when the display is attached to the metal shell of the phone, but the process is failing in some cases. Apple is tweaking the design so that it can be more efficiently made, and can also rely on other manufacturers to build the phone.

That new rumour came just hours after a research note from Bank of America Global Research that suggested the phone could be delayed by a “few weeks”, likely into October. That report came from analyst Wamsi Mohan – who previously correctly predicted that the iPhone 12 range would be delayed when it was released in 2020.

That year, Apple released the new phone around a month later than usual, showing it off at an event on 13 October and then releasing it on 23 October. That year’s 12 Mini was delayed even further, not arriving until November.

Those previous delays also came when Apple launched a new redesign, then for the first time since the iPhone X that came two years before. But the issues in 2020 were also at least in part because of lockdowns, which slowed down production in China.

Last year, Apple also delayed the release of the iPhone 14 Plus into October. While the rest of its line-up was announced and released on the usual timescale, the larger version of the cheaper phone did not go on sale until 8 October.

While the delay will mean only that customers may be required to wait for their new phone, it could also have significant consequences for Apple. Pushing the phone back into the fourth quarter of the year would mean that they would be logged as being in the next financial year in the company’s finances.