Apple iPhone 8 suppliers are reportedly ramping up production early

A new report published today says that circuit board manufacturers will start to work on components for the Apple iPhone 8 as soon as next month. That would be a month earlier than most analysts expected. Taipei's Economic Daily News names Kinsus Interconnect and Zhen Ding as two companies that will be starting work in June on their contributions to the tenth anniversary edition of the iPhone.

TSMC, the company behind the production of the A11 chipset that will drive the Apple iPhone 8, Apple iPhone 7s and Apple iPhone 7s Plus will start mass production of the new chips in July. Even with the head start by some suppliers, the supply chain is working on the assumption that Apple will unveil the phone in September and launch it the following month.

It doesn't appear that suppliers are starting production earlier than usual in order to accelerate the release of the phone. Instead, it seems that this is being done so that Apple can build up a larger supply of iPhone 8 units prior to the phone's launch. In other words, this action seems to confirm that Apple is expecting a huge fiscal first quarter for its pricey new device. Considering that Samsung is set to deliver as many as 95 million OLED platforms to Apple this year, and that the iPhone 8 will be the only iPhone model to sport an OLED screen in 2017, it seems obvious that Apple is expecting a blow out holiday shopping season for the tenth anniversary edition.

via SeekingAlpha