Apple faces SMT yield hurdles in foldable iPhone build

Apple is encountering production challenges with its first foldable iPhone, currently in development, according to recent reports from supply chain sources. The latest issue centers on achieving satisfactory manufacturing yields during a critical pre-assembly stage involving surface-mount technology (SMT), a process for attaching electronic components to the device’s internal circuit boards.

The information originates from a post on the Chinese social media platform Weibo by an account known as Fixed Focus Digital, which cited contacts within Apple’s supply chain. The leaker described the situation regarding production capacity as not optimistic, though did not explicitly state the device’s launch timeline is at risk. This report follows another from a separate leaker, Instant Digital, which claimed last week that the foldable phone’s hinge mechanism was consistently failing to meet the company’s stringent quality standards during high-frequency durability testing. That leaker later suggested the hinge issue was unlikely to affect the anticipated release window.

Surface-mount technology is a standard manufacturing process that uses solder paste to affix components directly to a...