Sept 19 iPhone 6 Release Date with Confirmed A8 Chip, Sapphire Firms Up as Apple Delays iWatch Assembly

The rumoured iPhone 6 release date on September 19 gained further traction as Apple reportedly pushed back the start of volume production for the iWatch, allowing the company to focus its energy and resources to the 2014 iPhone push.

And it appears highly likely too that on the same day, the next iPhone will boast of a dual-core and 64-bit A8 chip that runs at maximum frequency of 2.0GHz plus a bendable sapphire glass panel.

In a new research note, KGI Securities analyst Ming-chi Kuo is revising his earliest call that Apple assembly plants will commence the large-scale production of the iWatch. According to Apple Insider, the tech giant has encountered "a new level of difficulty ... in regard to both hardware and software development," of the first iOS wearable device.

So from the original projection of September 2014, the iPhone maker is forced to reschedule the iWatch manufacturing activities to September of the same, Kuo said.

Kuo, however, did not specify when the Apple timepiece will hit the market instead as clearly the pushback will not allow for a simultaneous launch with that of the iPhone 6 as earlier indicated in numerous analysts' forecast.

But if there is one good thing that will come out of a delayed iWatch debut, it is the possibility that Apple will be able to concentrate on its iPhone 6 release plans and make sure that the device will come as earlier projected.

True enough, supply chain reports from Asia this week revealed that TSMC has started its deliveries of A8 chips to Apple's manufacturing partners in the region, strongly hinting in the process that assembly of the next iPhone has already commenced.

And speaking of the A8 CPU, G4Games claimed in a report that key details of the 64-bit application processor are now out in the open. The iPhone 6 powerhouse is in 20nm process and dual-core, running at top-speed of 2.0GHz.

G4Games sourced its information from Chinese language Web site CNBeta.

While the specs may not be exactly jaw-dropping, it is expected that the chipset is designed for optimal functions with that of iOS 8 that somehow ensures of smooth and high-performance mobile computing experience for would-be iPhone 6 users.

Apart from the chip engine that will fire up the next iPhone to life, its sapphire front panel is seemingly confirmed too in a report by The Guardian. The UK publication called the alleged sapphire front panel for the iPhone, as shown in video clips this week, as 'legitimate'.

The paper cited the expert opinion of Neil Alford, a materials expert and a professor at the Imperial College in London, on its report.

"In my opinion the screen being shown off in the video could well be a sapphire screen. If you make sapphire thin enough, and it's flaw free, you can bend it quite considerably because it has an enormous strength," Prof Alford was reported by The Guardian as saying.

The iPhone 6 release date on September 19 is deemed by analysts as a simultaneous event that will give birth to two versions - a 4.7-inch model that will replace the 4-inch iPhone 5S and a 5.5-inch build that will be Apple's first iOS phablet.