Rumor | iPhone 14 production is "weeks" behind schedule thanks to the resumption of lockdowns in China

There are some specific steps in the manufacture of the latest iPhone, according to Nikkei Asia. There is new product introduction (or NPI), during which Apple and its production partners such as Foxconn finalize the design of these new mobile devices.

It is followed by an engineering verification test (or EVT), during which roughly the same is done for their components and their manufacturing methods in order to work out the cost (or bill of materials) of the same at scale. 

The iPhones then move on to verification, a more formal version of EVT, prior to full-on mass production. The former is slated to start at around the start of July, so that the latter can start off in August or September at the latest - which may help explain the typical launch date of the average flagship iPhone series.

However, there is a reported spanner in these works in 2022: the lockdowns that have affected the iPhone assembly partners Foxconn in Shanghai and Pegatron in Shanghai and Kunshan, China. The restrictions have apparently delayed the normal iPhone-making process in a way that has held 1 variant back by 3 weeks.

Nikkei Asia reports that, while all 4 models (currently thought of as the vanilla 14 and its Max, Pro and Pro Max counterparts) are in EVF, one is behind by nearly a month. Apple is said to have gone all out to get it back on schedule; nevertheless, it is reportedly encountering difficulty as Shanghai's return to normalcy is proving sluggish for its liking.

The production issues apparently also affect the production of new iPhone 13-series units, and are now thus estimated to deprive the Cupertino giant of up to US$8 billion in revenue for the current quarter of 2022.

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