Apple suppliers that will provide various iPhone 6 parts are apparently “facing technological difficulties maintaining or hiking yield rates” for various components, Digitimes reports, including panels, chassis and battery packs. Supply chain sources talking to the publication said that iPhone 6-related orders will contribute to revenues, but will not help increase gross margins because of the challenges they had or have to face.
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Apple is expected to sell up to 70 million new iPhones by the end of the year, according to the same sources.
Digitimes further says that suppliers will make 2mm thick batteries for the iPhone 6, significantly thinner than the 3mm batteries found in the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c models. Samsung has apparently developed a 1.65mm battery cell, although it’s yet to adopt it in any mobile device.
The iPhone 6 is expected to be even thinner than its predecessors, a design feature revealed by many similar iPhone 6 dummy units floating around. The device is said to be just 7mm thin, 0.6mm thinner than the iPhone 5s.
Previous reports have suggested that Apple was facing some iPhone 6 batteries that could lead to shipping delays (especially for the 5.5-inch version), as suppliers had to slim them down by a full millimeter, but subsequent reports noted that the company may have solved the matter.
