The news continues to get worse for Apple and its partners as the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc throughout the tech industry However, there are signs of hope

First, word has come in that the iPhone 9, originally scheduled to be announced at an Apple event at the end of March, may be postponed; given the cancellation of GDC and other events, it is highly unlikely that Apple will hold an event at this time

And now it appears that Apple is shifting gears on a key component of the iPhone 12 amid questions about its over-reliance on China

You may not have heard of Yujingguang, but the company is known for manufacturing the iPhone 11's ultra-wide angle camera lens And TF Securities analyst Minqi Kuo says the company, along with other Apple supply chain partners, will be affected by the coronavirus

First, Kuo said in a research note that he believes the company's first-quarter sales will be "significantly below market consensus" This research note was originally reported by AppleInsider

More importantly, he predicts that Yujingguang will lose its dominant position as the ultra-wide angle camera lens provider for the iPhone 12 Currently, the company is projected to secure only 30% to 40% of its orders Another company, Daliguang, is likely to win some of the orders

In short, Apple is being forced to diversify its component suppliers in order to stay on track for the iPhone 12 launch, which will probably take place in September

According to a Wall Street Journal report, some operations executives have proposed moving assembly of at least one product to Vietnam in 2015 This would have allowed Apple to create a "new cluster of component providers" outside of China However, senior management reportedly pushed back on the idea

The two biggest reasons Apple has not been successful in manufacturing pawns and components elsewhere in the world are scale and technology China has factories that can accommodate more than 250,000 people In addition, other countries do not have the skilled labor needed to support Apple

Apple has shifted manufacturing of the AirPods Pro from China to Vietnam, where the wireless earbuds apparently use about a third of the iPhone's components However, the WSJ reports that plans to manufacture the iPhone 11 in India have failed due to a lack of skilled workers

Not much is known about the iPhone 12's camera system, but one rumor suggests that Apple will use a new time-of-flight sensor that is much more powerful than the TrueDepth sensor on the front of the current iPhone This could be used for augmented reality (AR) applications, but it is not clear who will supply this component

Apple previously lowered its Q2 guidance on February 17 due to the coronavirus outbreak At that time, the company also said that global supply of iPhones would be "temporarily constrained"

Since the coronavirus outbreak, Apple's market value has fallen by more than $100 billion, according to the WSJ

The good news is that Foxconn, Apple's largest partner, has said it expects to resume normal production in China by the end of March Reuters reports that Foxconn warned of a 15% drop in sales in its business, which includes consumer electronics and enterprise products, in the first quarter

Another CNN report on Foxconn said that Foxconn was producing at about 50% of capacity as of Tuesday

The coronavirus has killed more than 3,100 people and sickened nearly 91,000, mostly in China More than 100 cases have been confirmed in the United States,