Apple iPhone 5 delays? Blame the screen technology.
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The iPhone 5: It launched last week. It was popular. It remains popular (although perhaps not quite as popular as some analysts had predicted). And it is delayed.
If you pre-ordered an iPhone 5 sometime in the last 10 days, there's a good chance you won't see your shiny, new, big-screen smartphone until October, which is something of a hassle if you're one of those instant-gratification types.聽
So what's behind the delay? Well, to a new report in Bloomberg, it's the rejiggered display on the iPhone 5. In the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, the display and touch sensor were separate. In the iPhone 5, they're twinned 鈥 the technology is called "in-cell." Bloomberg says it's taking Apple longer than expected to wrestle up the various parts needed for the in-cell displays and to actually assemble the screens.聽
"This is like the opening weekend for the summer blockbuster movie," Tom Dinges,聽senior principal analyst聽at IHS iSuppli, Bloomberg. "They needed to get a lot of products in the door during a tight window, and these supply constraints that were talked about probably did have some impact." But have no fear: Dinges expects that the supply stream should speed up exponentially in coming weeks.聽
In the meantime, as Eric Zeman of InformationWeek points out, there are still a few ways to get your hands on a new iPhone.聽
"First, you can try your luck at your local Apple retail store, though Apple warns 'limited quantities may also be for in-store pickup on a first-come, first-served basis,'" Zeman . "Second, you can try calling around wireless network operators' stores and other retailers to see if they have any in stock. AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon Wireless, as well as Best Buy, RadioShack, Target, and Wal-Mart are selling the iPhone 5."
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