Many analysts who follow Apple are closely following what’s going on with the company’s supply chain in order to determine whether this year’s line of iPhones will arrive on time. In recent weeks, opinions have differed on whether the iPhones will arrive in September as they typically do or if the company is looking at a delay. 

One analyst, Daniel Ives of Wedbush Securities, has predicted that this year’s iPhone cycle will not be delayed significantly. In addition, “technology wrinkles” with the 5G technology have been “ironed out” of late, he said. 

The most recent checks on the supply chain has given Ives “increased confidence in the timing and pent up demand around Apple’s much anticipated iPhone 12 product cycle heading into this Fall.”

“While we were hearing of some delays over the past few months that would have pushed this key product cycle into the October/November timeframe, we now believe the iPhone 12 will be in late September with the smartphones ready to hit the shelves globally in early October. The supply chain getting back to normalization ahead of expectations has been impressive and now ultimately puts Cook & Co. back in the driver’s seat to launch this 5G cycle in its typical September timeframe.”

Ives also agrees with the consensus that there will likely be four different models of iPhones in this year’s cycle. He also predicted that this year’s iPhones will be a mix of 4G and 5G devices and that this year’s phones will not come with wired EarPods. This led him to predict that Apple will now sell eight-five million AirPod units in 2020, compared to sixty-five million last year.

The same analyst had painted a less-rosy picture back in April, predicting that the pandemic would significantly affect demand for the devices.

The latest report from Ives did not state anything about which panels Apple will be using in this year’s iPhone. A report out of Asia last week stated that BOE, one of the suppliers reportedly set to provide screen panels for one of the four new iPhones, had failed a quality assessment test.

However, according to one widely cited analyst report released last month, BOE was only set to provide the panels for iPhone 12 Max, a load that it was reportedly sharing with LG Display. Samsung is set as the supplier for the other three. 

Ives maintained his price target of $375 and “Outperform” rating for Apple. 

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for the National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters