The iPhone 14 range isn’t expected to land until September, but the first units are reportedly already being built.
That’s according to Taiwanese site United Daily News, which claims that the iPhone 14 has entered trial production. That's the first production phase, and it involves just a small number of handsets being built so that Apple can identify problems and optimize the process before mass production begins.
It’s not clear from the machine translated report whether all iPhone 14 models have entered this trial production phase or just some, but 9to5Mac reports that this timing is in line with previous years, suggesting that so far Apple is on schedule. So while delays were never likely, it now looks even less likely that the iPhone 14 range will be delayed.
The report additionally suggests that Luxshare (a Chinese company) will be building the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Max, while – as usual – Foxconn will take charge of the Pro models, namely the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
While we’d take this report with a pinch of salt, we don’t really have any reason to doubt it, especially since the timing is in line with when production would normally start.
It’s worth noting though that if production has begun that probably means the design of these phones has been finalized, and with handsets now being built, it’s likely that leaks will increase, so we might hear a whole lot more soon.
Analysis: a mix of new and old
So what is this finalized design? While we can’t be certain yet, leaks suggest that the iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max will have a drastically different look to their predecessors, with one or more cut-outs in the screen for Face ID and the selfie camera, in place of a notch.
The two cheaper models however might stick largely with the design seen on the iPhone 13 range, so if you don’t want a notch on your next iPhone, you’ll probably have to spend big.
If only some models have so far entered production we’d guess that it would be the standard iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Max, since less is reportedly changing there, but that’s just speculation, and it’s entirely possible that units of all four upcoming phone are being produced as you read this.
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