Apple’s release of both the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X has always been seemed a little strange, and now we know why: the company had originally intended to release the redesigned X in 2018, according to an interview with Mashable about the making of the new phone.

Dan Riccio, the SVP of hardware engineering at Apple, describes how Apple had originally intended for the bezel-free iPhone X to launch next year, but “with a lot of hard work, talent, grit, and determination we were able to deliver them this year.”

Riccio also claims that the shortened timetable to that decision meant that Apple had no chance to second guess decisions, contradicting reports that the company had originally considered a fingerprint sensor embedded in the display. In fact, according to Riccio, “we spent no time looking at [putting] fingerprints on the back or through the glass or on the side,” with the design of the X apparently locked down as early as last November.

Given the competition from other bezel-free designs like the Samsung Galaxy S8, Essential Phone, and LG V30, it hard to argue that bumping up the timeframe was the wrong move. And with the iPhone X set to make its way to its first batch of customers this week, we’ll soon find out if the rest of the world agrees.