It’s typical for US based consumer electronics companies building products at that scale and complexity to have prototypes (Protos) that are form and function c

It’s typical for US based consumer electronics companies building products at that scale and complexity to have prototypes (Protos) that are form and function complete but made only partially with proper mass production processes (e.g. some CNC parts instead of injection molded) at least a year before launch. Places like Apple would have non-form factor boards, ID mockups, and some key modules in place at least two years ahead of launch. Some companies work on much more aggressive schedules though. Samsung for example often has a bunch of paths running in parallel that they downselect late on, and Xiaomi will compress a full development cycle into a year for some products.