Apple's iPhone 15 Pro Max is looking more and more likely to be delayed
Are you excited about Apple's "Wonderlust" event, which is only a week away at the time of this writing? Do you plan to order one of the tech giant's hot new phones as soon as they're commercially released?
That might not be the smartest thing to do, at least based on a persistent delay rumor from the last couple of months which refuses to go away as the iPhone 15 family launch is drawing near. Whether it will be called 15 Pro Max or 15 Ultra in the end, the most advanced member of the family seems more and more likely to start shipping weeks after its smaller and/or humbler brothers.
So when exactly should we expect everything to be released?
According to aspiring Twitter X leaker Revegnus, aka @Tech_Reve, "severe" yield issues with Sony could force Apple to delay the iPhone 15 Pro Max by "up to approximately 4 weeks."
That's obviously in relation to the company's original production and rollout plans, which are officially unknown although they can be pretty easy to guess based on history and, well, common sense. The iPhone 13, 13 mini, 13 Pro, and 13 Pro Max, for instance, all started shipping on the same September 24 date back in 2021 after being formally unveiled on September 14.
Ideally, Apple would have probably liked to follow a similar schedule this year and put the entire iPhone 15 lineup in the hands of its earliest adopters on September 22 after next Tuesday's official launch event.
Instead, the iPhone 15 Pro Max could follow the example of last year's iPhone 14 Plus, which was announced alongside the 14, 14 Pro, and 14 Pro Max on September 7 before being actually released exactly a month later.
If the latest "up to" 4-week delay prediction for the iPhone 15 Pro Max proves accurate, this absolute beast of a mobile device could reach its first owners around October 13 following a pre-order start almost certainly set for September 15 and a September 22 commercial rollout as far as the iPhone 15, 15 Plus, and 15 Pro are concerned.
Far from an ideal timetable, that shouldn't prove to be disastrous for the iPhone 15 Pro Max's box-office prospects, giving you all plenty of time to get your hands on this bad boy well before Thanksgiving, let alone Christmas.
What's the problem and what's the good news?
Basically, the rumored problem is also the potential good news, as the cause for this delay is currently believed to be a Sony-made imaging sensor with a "more advanced node" than the camera on last year's iPhone 14 Pro Max.
As long as Sony manages to swiftly contain the component's "yield issues", that obviously suggests the iPhone 15 Pro Max could provide a nice photography performance upgrade over its predecessor without needing an all-new camera.
Of course, there's still a chance that Apple's most advanced 2023 iPhone will also bring an entirely new periscope shooter to the table with up to 6x optical zoom functionality that's most likely not the sensor causing the rumored delay.
Other possible upgrades and improvements compared to the already amazing iPhone 14 Pro Max include a (slightly) larger battery, more RAM, an all-new programmable "Action" button, and of course, a long overdue USB Type-C port, with little to no changes expected in the display and overall design language departments.
At the end of the day, we're pretty sure many of you are seriously questioning whether or not you should wait for this puppy, especially if all that speculation about a price hike also proves trustworthy. While we don't really have an answer for you there, we think it's definitely worth tuning into Apple's big September 12 event and make your final decision once you have all the official information in front of you.
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