Wednesday, September 26, 2012

iPhone 5 facing shortage from undersupply of thin in-cell display Cutting-edge screen tech to blame, say analysts


iPhone 5 black on hand
Apple’s recently launched iPhone 5 is experiencing a stock shortfall due to shortage of the thinner, lighter display it uses, a Bloomberg report claims.
The sixth-gen iKit sold a record five million units in its opening weekend, but still fell short of analysts' estimates that ranged from six million to an optimistic 10 million projected by Piper Jaffray. Apparently the reason for this is an undersupply of the in-cell display technology on board the handset, which is still proving to be difficult for manufacturers Japan Display, LG and Sharp to produce in the volume needed to achieve those figures.
“Apple is facing significant production constraints due to a move toward in-cell display technology,” Ben Reitzes, an analyst at Barclays, wrote in a research note to investors.
“Apple is struggling to keep up with demand.”
According to Tom Dinges, senior principal analyst at IHS iSupply, said: “This is like the opening weekend for the summer blockbuster movie.
“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.”
Stock shortages are hardly unexpected for new iPhone launches and is unlikely to hamper the iPhone 5’s performance greatly, which will be available in 100 countries by the year’s end.
However, the launch has also been met with severe criticism due to extensive inaccuracies uncovered in Apple’s new Maps application that replaces Google Maps as the native mapping solution on iOS.
Some early adopters have also complained that their brand new iPhone 5s had scratches and dents out of the box, which may be due to the micron-precision manufacturing process used for creating the handset’s aluminium casing.
Apple has yet to comment on any supply issues but has said it is “blown away” by demand for the handset described as many industry watchers as the late Steve Jobs’s swansong.

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