Apple commences pre-production on iPhone?
Apple may already have commenced pre-production testing of this year’s iPhone 18 Pro, a Chinese leaker claims. If that sounds familiar it’s because we think it already had.
The timing isn’t terribly surprising.
Going like clockwork
The company usually begins pre-production testing at about this point of the year. That’s quite a big realization when you stop to consider it as it implies that even as the company introduces one model it already knows more or less what the next iPhone one year later will bring.
It’s useful to bear that thought in mind whenever a hotly speculated upon iPhone feature doesn’t actually appear, as it can sometimes mean the feature arrives the following year.
Pre-production testing is an important part of Apple’s development process. The idea isn’t just to build the device, but also to identify what improvements are necessary on the production line to optimize manufacturing.
This is very much about finding out if all the elements that make the device will be possible. Apple will take what it learns in pre-production testing and apply it as the company rolls out full production lines at partner facilities.
Also in India?
What makes the system more interesting these days is that Apple isn’t just working with manufacturers in China but also now works with manufacturing partners in India. If I remember correctly, this can involve engineers from both countries coming together during the process.
It is also important to point out that 2025 was the first year during which Apple made all the iPhone 17 models (including the Pro and Pro Max) in India. This is likely to be the situation once again this year, though I suspect some forthcoming iPhone models will at first be exclusively made in China (particularly the Fold).
Apple will introduce these new iPhones in just seven months.Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe. Also, now on Mastodon.
