Oliver Haslam·

iPhone XR Release Date: Here’s Why It’s Coming Later

Apple flicked the switch that turned iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max pre-orders on overnight but if you’re holding out for an iPhone XR, you’re going to have to wait a little bit longer.

Apple confirmed that the cheapest 2018 iPhone won’t be available until next month when everything was unveiled earlier this week, with no confirmation as to why that was. Previous rumors had suggested that Apple and its suppliers were struggling to produce that LCD Liquid Retina Display at high enough volumes to meet demand, and now it looks like that might have been accurate, to a point.

Speaking with multiple analysts familiar with the supply chain, The Verge also suggests that production issues are to blame for the delay in iPhone XR sales going live, but while we thought that was a hardware issue with the displays, Ryan Reith, IDC’s vice president of research on mobile devices, tells The Verge that it’s all actually the fault of software.

“Everything we’ve been hearing, it’s been an issue on the software side,” he said, “There’s a lot of software involved with the LCD screen, as it’s the first [LCD display] with a notch and full screen.”

Reith added, “Apple could not get enough of these displays. It’s run into last-minute kinks with the contact manufacturer.” He said that Apple has been in production for a while, but that the “quality wasn’t hitting what they needed.

If that is indeed the case, Apple must be confident that it has those kinks ironed out or at least will be able to do so soon enough to be able to fulfill orders next month.

It’s difficult to know just how many orders Apple will receive, but with the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max seemingly selling well following pre-order go-live, it’s possible buyers are still going for the more costly options regardless of the iPhone XR’s new color options.

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