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Inside Apple’s Struggle to Get the iPhone X to Market on Time

The company let suppliers reduce accuracy of the phone’s Face ID system to speed up production.
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The Hurdles Apple Had to Overcome to Ship the iPhone X

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As of early fall, it was clearer than ever that production problems meant Apple Inc. wouldn’t have enough iPhone Xs in time for the holidays. The challenge was how to make the sophisticated phone—with advanced features such as facial recognition—in large enough numbers.

As Wall Street analysts and fan blogs watched for signs that the company would stumble, Apple came up with a solution: It quietly told suppliers they could reduce the accuracy of the face-recognition technology to make it easier to manufacture, according to people familiar with the situation.