Rosenblatt: OLED ‘iPhone 8’ to Skip Touch ID, Pushing Production Up a Week

Iphone 8

According to a new research note by Rosenblatt analyst Jun Zhang, Apple’s upcoming 10th anniversary edition ‘iPhone 8’ with OLED display will not include a fingerprint sensor or Touch ID, due to a low yield rate, and as a result, mass production of the device has been pushed to the third week of September, a week earlier than previously expected (via StreetInsider).

“On the other hand, they do not believe Apple has changed its 2H production forecast at this time due to the potential slower ramp of iPhone 8 OLED production, allowing some time for a yield rate improvement. They expect iPhone 8 OLED production to be around 35-40 million units in 2H17 (5 million and 30-35 million in Q3 and Q4, respectively)”

While Zhang’s timeline is pretty much consistent with the one claimed by KGI Securties analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, he however argued that ‘iPhone 8’ may have just 2 to 4 million units in its launch quarter. But if Apple replaces Touch ID on the anniversary edition iPhone with advanced facial recognition, it may improve the yield quite significantly.

The analyst expects the iPhone 7s, iPhone 7s Plus models, both of which should retain LCDs and fingerprint sensors, to reach a production of around 50 million units in 2H17 (15 million and 35 million in Q3 and Q4, respectively), while maintaining a Neutral for AAPL, and price target of $150.

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