Mass production of iPhone 15 displays begins today; lens problems
A new supply chain report says that mass production of iPhone 15 displays has started today, after Apple gave approval to Samsung Display.
The same report also indicates that producing the periscope lens for the iPhone 15 Pro Max is proving harder than expected, with yield rates below expectations …
From prototyping to mass production
While Apple is a notoriously secretive company when it comes to the product development process, what happens beyond the prototyping stage follows industry norms. Specifically, the four stages between a signed-off design prototype, and the finished product:
- EVT (Engineering Validation Test)
- DVT (Design Validation Test)
- PVT (Product Validation Test)
- Mass production
EVT is when the engineering team ensures that what the design team came up with is practical to produce, and works as expected. Around 50 prototypes are created, and it’s expected that this will reveal problems with the production process that require modifications to the design. Once those design changes have been made, it gets handed back to the engineering team for another EVT round, with another 50 or so devices. There are as many EVT rounds as needed to reach a point where the team is satisfied that it is practical to manufacture, hence EVT 1, EVT 2, and so on.
DVT is the process of checking that the design is practical to manufacture at volume. There may be designs that can be manufactured in small volumes, but lead to problems when attempting to transition to an assembly-line process. Again, there may be multiple DVT rounds before a final design, which is then submitted for regulatory approval.
PVT is effectively the first stage of mass production, with around 10% of initial product volumes made – but with a scheduled pause to ensure that there’s time to correct any further problems identified. This is typically the point at which any yield problems show up: the percentage of products making it through quality control.
Mass production is the final stage, in which suppliers are running at full capacity.
Mass production of iPhone 15 displays
The Elec reports that Apple has now signed off on the final PVT stage for all four…
