Cheap new ‘iPhone 9’ could be delayed by coronavirus crisis, insiders warn
A CHEAP new iPhone widely expected to launch in March could be delayed due to China's coronavirus crisis, experts and insiders have revealed.
One top analyst told The Sun said that the outbreak has created issues for iPhone production – as the Wuhan coronavirus rages across China.
For months, reports and experts have been suggesting that Apple will launch a new iPhone in March.
It's supposedly going to be smaller than recent models, borrowing the popular design of the 4.7-inch iPhone 8.
This is also expected to bring the price down as low as £399/$399.
But experts have revealed that the coronavirus could cause delays for production of the 'iPhone 9', expected to quietly take place in China.
It comes as China has locked down a number of cities and is blocking travel to prevent further spread of the infection.
Speaking to The Sun, top analyst Dan Ives warned that this poses major issues for Apple – who manufactures iPhones in China.
"The coronavirus outbreak has created a potential complex logistics issue for iPhone production which needs to ramp up in February to hit its goals," said Dan, of Wedbush Securities.
"The next few weeks are pivotal as if the virus outbreak is not contained it could push out iPhone production in China which is now becoming an investor concern."
According to Japan's news agency, Apple has ordered 65million units of existing iPhones – and 15million units of a new model expected in March.
That's an additional 8million units compared to the same period last year, according to GF Securities.
"This year is much busier than last year," one industry insider told Nikkei.
Suppliers are now reportedly worried about the outbreak of coronavirus, which began in China's Hubei province.
The area is near to the Henan and Guangdong provinces, which are home to major Apple suppliers.
More than 100 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in those areas.
";The [coronavirus] situation in China could affect the planned production schedule," one supply chain executive whose trip to China was postponed told Nikkei
So far over 100 people have died due to the virus, with more than 4,500 cases now confirmed.
But scientists have forecast that the virus could infect as many as 190,000 people by February 4.
Where did coronavirus start? From bats to snakes - the theories on deadly virus' origins
The killer coronavirus was spread from bats to snakes to humans, experts have claimed.
An outbreak of the virus is understood to have started at an open air fish market in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which has since been put in lockdown after 25 people died and more than 600 people were infected globally.
A new study published in the China Science Bulletin this week claimed that the new coronavirus shared a strain of virus found in bats.
Previous deadly outbreaks of SARS and Ebola were also believed to have originated in the flying mammal.
Experts had thought the new virus wasn't capable of causing an epidemic as serious as those outbreaks because its genes were different.
But this latest research appeared to prove otherwise - as scientists scrabble to produce a vaccine.
In a statement, the researchers said: “The Wuhan coronavirus’ natural host could be bats … but between bats and humans there may be an unknown intermediate."
Meanwhile, scientists at Peking University also claim that the deadly virus was passed to humans from bats - but say it was through a mutation in snakes.
The researchers said that the new strain is made up of a combination of one that affects bats and another unknown coronavirus.
They believe that combined genetic material from both bats and this unknown strain picked up a protein that allows viruses bind to certain host cells - including those of humans.
After analysing the genes of the strains the team found that snakes were susceptible to the most similar version of the coronavirus.
It meant that they likely provided a "reservoir" for the viral strain to grow stronger and replicate.
Snakes are sold at the Huanan Seafood Market in central Wuhan and may have jumped to other animals before passing to humans, they claim.
But a senior researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, who asked not to be named, said the findings should be treated with caution.
He told the : “It is based on calculation by a computer model.
“Whether it will match what happens in real life is inconclusive.
“The binding protein is important, but it is just one of the many things under investigation. There may be other proteins involved.”
The expert believes that the new strain was an RNA virus, meaning that its mutation speed was 100 times faster than that of a DNA virus such as smallpox.
One of Apple's chief suppliers is Foxconn, who produces the majority of the world's iPhones.
Founder Terry Gou has publicly revealed his concern about his virus and its spread during the recent Chinese New Year celebrations.
"We are considering whether or not to let employees return to China after the Lunar New Year holidays," Gou recently told reporters in Taipei, where the firm is headquartered.
We've asked Apple for comment and will update this story with any response.
Apple has not confirmed any iPhone release for March publicly.
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In other news, Apple may preparing to launch four new iPhone 12 models later this year.
The iPhone 12 could be the thinnest ever thanks to new screen technology.
And the new phone could also see through mist and fog thanks to rumoured 'Spectral Edge' camera integration.
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