Apple Suppliers 'Scrambling' to Produce Enough iPhone 6 Displays After Issues With New Backlight

[lawrencewinkler]

Resolved in June/July?

Non-story as of now. If Apple had problems back in June/July and resolved them, this rumor is moot. If Apple is announcing on Sept then Apple has the supply needed for a Sept announcement at least.

It would have been a story in June/July. It's no longer a story.

 

[yaxomoxay]

As I've said before
Apples strongest point is also their weakest point.

It would be like Ford, or pick any other BIG car company, making 1 car.
The have chosen the size, the engine, the stereo, the number of doors, before a select few at Ford sat down and decided THEY wanted it to look like that.
So if you wanted Ford you bought that one model and that's that.
You would get the Ford fans who feel it;s perfect and other cars are just a fragmented mess, and all drive around in the same model Ford.

The real world is not like this. In the real world most companies make a range or products to cater for different tastes.
I don't expect you would tolerate the way Apple works in virtually any other product, as you want to go and select which model from the range you like, and you would be quite right to do so. You have your own preferences.

With a PC computer, you can pay as little as say $100 to $10,000+
They are all compatible and run the same software. It's the ultimate of free choice.
Phone wise, whilst I am no fan of Samsung. I'm not a fan of any brand, I appreciate that Samsung do make phones from say $30 to $600 with a full range of sizes, specs, and finish. That should be looked upon as a good thing. Only here it's seen as negative. There should only be ONE microwave.

I think you missed an important point...

and this

 

[zipa]

I think you missed an important point...

What point is that?

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

How does Apple have a shortage every year??? You would think after the iphone 5, and the iphone 5S, they would have planned ahead of time for a planned launch.

 

[sixrom]

That's brilliant! You should email this to Tim ASAP.

..how people think they are smarter than Apple's best managers and executives.

Apple has excellent talent, but quality control issues that have appeared do cause some people to question Apple. I can only guess the decline in quality of the iPhones, MBA's & rMBP's that I've bought each and every year, and is caused by money saving cuts, it does disappoint.

I never had to return a single Apple laptop until the 2012 and 2013 models. With a drop in quality control, it does cause wasted time and money waiting for replacements from Apple. With some luck perhaps Apples accepted responsibility and will deliver the premium quality we pay for.

 

[newagemac]

There should only be ONE microwave.

No. What I'm saying is that things work out best when there are LOTS of companies putting their own best efforts on what they see as the ultimate ONE microwave. At the end of the day, you still get the choice you want and more importantly you get BETTER choices. Apple is just one company. They can choose to focus on making the best microwave they know how. And other companies should do the same without copying others. And that's how you get true choice.

In fact, Apple's model is what we should all want out of companies if we care about choice. They write their own software, make their own hardware, and integrate their own custom parts like the fingerprint sensor and the 64 bit ARM processors, sapphire screens, etc. and so we have a significant choice to choose from in Apple.

Meanwhile, most of Apple's competition is all hoarded under a single operating system given to them by daddy Google rather than them providing consumer choice by coming up with software of their own. And they are using standard off the shelf components just in different configurations masquerading as "choice" in their race to the bottom.

Image if there were 30 different Apple like companies to choose from with their own unique software and hardware fully integrated and with a clear focus on making just ONE phone the best they each know how. Then we'd have some real choice. But we don't have that and it's not Apple that is the problem. You are ranting at the wrong companies.

 

[Rogifan]

How does Apple have a shortage every year??? You would think after the iphone 5, and the iphone 5S, they would have planned ahead of time for a planned launch.

How can there be a shortage on a product that hasn't even been announced?

 

[tallscot]

Don't buy the first iteration

I bought the very first iPhone 4, had hardware problems that were well reported.
I bought the very first iPhone 5, had the lock button problem and Apple took a week to fix it.

I'm going to wait a while this time.

----------

Apple has excellent talent, but quality control issues that have appeared do cause some people to question Apple. I can only guess the decline in quality of the iPhones, MBA's & rMBP's that I've bought each and every year, and is caused by money saving cuts, it does disappoint.

I never had to return a single Apple laptop until the 2012 and 2013 models. With a drop in quality control, it does cause wasted time and money waiting for replacements from Apple. With some luck perhaps Apples accepted responsibility and will deliver the premium quality we pay for.

Their quality control has been crap for a while, IMHO.

How can an Apple phone with Apple's OS not give me the correct album cover artwork in Apple's own music app with music purchased from Apple's music store?!!

And yet, there it is, completely F'ed up album artwork on my iPhone 5.

That's the same iPhone 5 where the lock button broke after a year. I went to Apple and they said it would be $279 to swap it out. I left.

A couple months later, Apple announced that if you have an iPhone with serial #s within a certain range, they would FIX your iPhone over a week.

Ugh.

I have a white Mac Book (plastic) that has bits of plastic broken off of it after normal around-the-house usage (not travel).

And the iPhone 4 and 5 can't make phone calls like the iPhone 3GS! What?

Not to mention the horrible battery life.

Oh, and don't get me started with their Final Cut Pro X. I love that app, but it has been a very painful 2 years. They are STILL updating it with bug fixes, after all these years. You know, like you can't burn a disc bug. Something simple like that.

 

[AppleScruff1]

They're willing to torpedo the product over millimeters?

No, tenths of millimeters.

----------

That's brilliant! You should email this to Tim ASAP.

..how people think they are smarter than Apple's best managers and executives.

You mean like the Safari crashing when iOS 7 came out? And all the bugs in Apple maps when it released? And the iPhone 5 scratching issues? And Antenna Gate? Is that the type of in depth field testing you mean?

----------

same it also makes it harder to be picked up from the table

And easier to slip out of your hand if you if you don't use a case. The 5s and the iPads are like trying to hold onto a wet piece of ice with rubber gloves.

 

[age234]

Not only that, the S cycle includes a great new feature, Siri, print sensor, sapphire..

Unlike the other examples, I have yet to see an explanation as to why sapphire is such a killer app.

 

[dampfnudel]

My thought exactly. Maybe wait until November and see what issues there are. If there are issues maybe they will be resolved or at least addressed in a second 'batch'.

That would be the safe thing to do. We'll see next month if Apple has to delay the release of the iPhone 6 until October. Most people here would probably rather wait until October or November, rather than dealing with a return or two.

----------

Unlike the other examples, I have yet to see an explanation as to why sapphire is such a killer app.

For me the improved camera was a much bigger upgrade than Siri on my 4S. Siri was meh at best. Touch ID on my 5s was a little better.

 

[StyxMaker]

Unfortunately you are the slim minority and the other group is the 90% majority.

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Actually you're wrong.



https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5L2MR7Q



Go ahead, post that link somewhere where you think this mysterious silent majority is. Every person I ask, real world, seems to agree that the battery life is far too short.

MacDonalds did focus groups and customer surveys, they learned customers wanted a lower fat hamburger. When they put one on the menu nobody bought it. It's not on the menu any more.

 

[Crossmax]

Coming to think about it, the fact that they originally intended to only use one unit of backlight film points to a non-sapphire screen (if the sapphire glas indeed is less transparent).

 

[Milese3]

Tell that to the protruding camera lens.

It's not even that bad- not even a mm. Do you really care about something that insignificant. If you don't like it, use a case.

 

[Four oF NINE]

Unlike the other examples, I have yet to see an explanation as to why sapphire is such a killer app.

My 15 year old Rolex has a sapphire crystal and has never been scratched. At all. Not even tiny hairline scratches. Not even the magnifier over the date. I wear it in environments where it's always getting banged into rough surfaces.

A well cared for iPhone will get small scratches. Even my well cared for inside a BookBook case wallet less than one year old iPhone 5S. That goes away with sapphire.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

How does Apple have a shortage every year??? You would think after the iphone 5, and the iphone 5S, they would have planned ahead of time for a planned launch.

The perception of scarcity motivates the herd to stand in long lines, camp overnight, be rained or snowed on, etc just trying to get one of the precious few. While somewhat "normal" with each launch, it tends to make the news and/or stir up passers by who ask what's going on, thus yielding free mass marketing and free word-of-mouth marketing without having to spend a nickel.

If Apple's message is "we've got plenty this year", there's less urgency and all that free marketing is sacrificed for no business gain.

 

[roadbloc]

I'm assuming this rumour is false. What sort of moron doesn't check the device for faults before mass producing it?

 

[krravi]

This problem is already solved, go get a morphie battery case if you want amazing battery life and don't care about thickness and want to flog your phone to death all day.

Thank god for those cases, anyone whinging about battery life can be told to go and buy one and stop trying to ruin the engineering of future iPhones with their ****** ideas.

Most people don't flog their phones and get by just fine with the 1-2 day battery life.



Yes and no. Customers shouldn't be trusted to crowd-engineer the features of the next phone. If you want that, go with Samsung, they will cram everything but the kitchen sink in for you to try to keep you happy. Apple will do what they think ultimately creates the best product.

All that engineering is a moot point if we have to strap on a ugly case with battery.

 

[CFreymarc]

This just guarantees those who want to be holding an iPhone 6 on launch day will have to make sure they are at the front of the queues. If Apple doesn't do pre-orders I'll be camping out for sure.

Will be interesting to see if they even launch next month if this problem is true.

 

[Moto G]

What a lot of whining panic merchants.... LOL

Just be happy - you're alive, you have oxygen in your lungs and a warm place to live with a bed, food and clean running water. You have enough financial security and spare time to be "concerned" over something as utterly insignificant as a high priced consumer item IN NO WAY necessary for living a comfortable, safe and happy life.

Too much fussing? I think so.

 

[iososx]

How does Apple have a shortage every year??? You would think after the iphone 5, and the iphone 5S, they would have planned ahead of time for a planned launch.

It seems to be the norm. Kind of odd that there's always issues that impact the launch. After all these years one would expect Apple to learn how to do it right. Or maybe they leak these stories to drive people into a frantic mind set to convince them to wait line.

 

[Tech198]

Apple's feeling the pressure ? Here's a hanky to wipe those foreheads...

This may have something to do with Apple needs to make sure they have more than they need so their won't be delays as much..

But there will be...

There's always delays around a new product... The question is, when will these come...

 

[kdarling]

How does Apple have a shortage every year??? You would think after the iphone 5, and the iphone 5S, they would have planned ahead of time for a planned launch.

At least two factors spring to mind:

- Apple seems to like to make last minute changes.
- An obsession with secrecy as part of their sales strategy.

Both reasons can cause production to be delayed until the last minute.

The trouble with secrecy, is that it can lead to mistakes, sometimes big ones. For example, the (obvious in retrospect) external antenna problem was hidden by the requirement that testers had to keep it camouflaged in a case.

 

[SactoGuy18]

All this will do is limit the initial availability of the iPhone 6 4.7" model to only the USA, Japan, South Korea, the UK and maybe Germany for at least the first two weeks of sale. Sales to the Chinese market may not start until the middle of October.

 

[vmachiel]

Not only that, the S cycle includes a great new feature, Siri, print sensor, sapphire..

And by the time the S comes out, third party apps will have been updated for the new screen types: retina (4/4s), big in length (5/5S) and bigger overall (6/6S).