If the iPhone X arrives late, blame 'Romeo and Juliet'

Apple is apparently having lots of trouble assembling and manufacturing the iPhone X.

A new Wall Street Journal report essentially confirms information first reported by the Nikkei Asian Review and adds more detail about what, exactly, has gone wrong. Apparently two key components of the iPhone X's face-scanner, dubbed Romeo and Juliet, are the main issue.

The WSJ report doesn't explain what these modules do, but claims that Romeo is taking more time to assemble than Juliet, which is causing an imbalance in supply. The bottom line: The iPhone X is being manufactured at a slower pace than expected.

We've heard this rumor before. Ten days ago, KGI Securities Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple likely won't be able to meet the demand for the iPhone X until early 2018. And last week, Raymond James analyst Christopher Caso, said the production of the iPhone X likely hasn't even started yet.

But it's interesting to hear that the 3D scanner -- the same one that will scan your face, effectively replacing the iPhone's fingerprint scanner -- is to blame for the delays. Rumors prior to the launch pointed to Apple experimenting with several variants of the iPhone, including one with an under-the-display fingerprint scanner. According to that narrative, this didn't work very well, prompting a last minute switch to the face scanning system instead. If these new reports are accurate, that decision didn't work out very well for Apple.

All of this is, of course, unofficial and comes from unnamed sources. The iPhone X is still scheduled to become available for pre-order on Oct. 27, and it should hit the stores on Nov. 3. But if these reports are correct, few people will actually get their phone on that date, and shipping delays might continue well into 2018.