iPhone 6 Release Date Likely Moved to Oct 2014 as Foxconn, Pegatron to Start Volume Production in August – Reports

Apple could be forced to slightly delay its iPhone 6 release date plans this 2014 as new reports indicate that the company's key manufacturing partners will only start mass production of the device in August.

Foxconn and Pegatron, according to Apple Insider, will begin assembly of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 next month, which contradicts earlier reports that the next iPhone will be produced in large quantity anytime this month.

The same report added that Chinese workers will only begin building the phablet-size 5.5-inch iPhone 6 in September, suggesting that the pushback will likely lead to a later rollout for the two devices.

The earliest possible unboxing is on October and Apple Insider clarified that this would be for the smaller model. No release date was offered for the jumbo-sized iPhone though in a recent research note provided by Ming-chi Kuo of KGI Securities, the bigger iPhone will no debut until January 2015, at the latest.

It is unclear what caused the reported delay but according to 9to5Mac, the blame lays on Apple's decision to upsize the 2014 iPhone display panel, which is now the source of headache for the company's manufacturing partners.

This is especially true for the 5.5-inch iPhone 6, added the Apple-dedicated tech blog site, which cites a report from The Wall Street Journal as source.

"The production (for the 5.5-inch iPhone) is complicated because the displays are using in-cell technology, which allows the screens to be thinner and lighter by integrating touch sensors into the liquid crystal display and making it unnecessary to have a separate touch-screen layer," 9to5Mac quoted WSJ as saying.

Despite the delay, it appears that Apple is pretty confident that consumers will scoop up the iPhone 6 in large amounts as the company reportedly ordered some 80 million new units from Foxconn and Pegatron, which will be delivered by the end of 2014.

This WSJ claim is in line with reports this week that Foxconn alone is set to produce a total of 120 million new iPhones that include the iPhone 6, the iPhone 5S and the iPhone 5C. The last two models, according to Kuo, will be repackaged as Apple's budget smartphone.

On release date, which is previously set on September 19, the iPhone 6 is believed to unleash the power features packed with iOS 8 plus the killer specs the device is stuffed with, headlined by a superfast and power-efficient A8 processing chip, which is in 64-bit mobile computing standard.